Virgin Atlantic strike announced

STRIKE NOW ANNOUNCED.

Sky News have it as a breaking news story right now.

2 48 hour strikes in the new year.

Dates now confirmed on BBC: 9th and 10th Jan and 16th and 17th Jan. So two mid week
strikes.Note BBC Website has strike dates incorrect.

Unite Press Release

A very sad day for VS IMO. Up to Mods if we split this now the strike is confirmed.







edit to thread title by mod.......... Nick

[Nottingham Nick]

I have now split this into a new topic and will lock the old mammoth one.

This is a link to the Sky News story.



Nick

BBC News reports that cabin crew voted 71% in favour of a strike

Link to article

Wonder if the action has been pushed to then because BAA staff will do the disrupting for them over the holiday period ? Or, on the brighter side, to allow for some last ditch talks ?

Paul

[honey lamb]

Well fortunately my flight dates are safe unless BAA choose to strike on those dates. Fingers crossed

[Nottingham Nick]

According to the itineraries section capetownflyer's return to the UK may be the first V-Flyer flight to be affected, but I suppose there will have to be a lot of jockeying and aircraft shifting in the days before the action. [?]

Nick

Originally posted by Nottingham Nick
According to the itineraries section capetownflyer's return to the UK may be the first V-Flyer flight to be affected, but I suppose there will have to be a lot of jockeying and aircraft shifting in the days before the action. [?]

Well a few extra days holiday in Cape Town might not be such a bad thing... but thats just me... and its going to be Hot in CPT and Cold in LHR...

At the time I will keep you all updated.. but lets hope it doesnt get to that.

Flying on the 4th with BA and back on the 11th to a destination served by SQ.
Flying to SFO on the 24th, so it looks like I will not be impacted, but I feel for those who will be.

I am surprised at the number in favour of striking. It can only do harm in my mind to both the company and staff.

Originally posted by ukcobra


I am surprised at the number in favour of striking. It can only do harm in my mind to both the company and staff.

Percentages always make things look good though!

3,100 cabin crew members. 2,102 voted and 1,497 voted in favour of striking. Would imagine the airline management will argue that less than 50% are in favour of striking (if we take the 998 who didnt vote to not be in favour).

If the 1,603 who voted no/didnt vote do continue to work then it will only be just under half the crew that are striking and thus some sort of reduced service should be possible. Maybe I am being optimistic but it may not be as bad as unite are claiming it will be.

Awesome: [xx(] I'm flying on the 12th and 15th so I miss the strike dates but will get a crap service anyway. I would really like to cancel.

I'm crew and disappointed with the vote to strike. I certainly believe we are underpaid, and there's lots of terms and conditions and payscales I don't agree with, but I don't think now is the time to be battling to have these changed. I hoped we'd accept this paydeal (not ideal by any means), and then have talks with our union to get talks on the right track for the next pay negotiations in 2009. I'm days off for the first strike dates, but standby the second, so guess who will be getting a call from crewing?!

Sadly I feel I will have to support the union, but in my heart I feel it's a waste of time. The pay offer is now off the table, and we have zero on offer. That in itself will make people determined to back the strike. It's a sad, sad day. I voted to reject the first two pay deals, accept the last one, and voted no to strike action.

So I'm on the way back from Newark Liberty on the evening of the 8th [;)]

Who pays for the hotel if the flight is cancelled ?

Well, a very sad day, as VS seem to have always managed to avoid the sort of unrest which has dogged many other airlines.

It's sad that there was some level of hell-bent-ness to take it to a strike, and the whole thing looks a bit sad and sorry.

Confirmation of strike dates is often followed by some last-ditch talks to avert the strike, so I'm sure we'll see some movement in the coming days.

The numbers can be spun any which way, but having approximately 50% of the workforce unhappy is still a bad enough sign.

Mike

OFFICIAL NOTIFICATION TO ALL VIRGIN CREW FROM VIRGIN

Cabin Crew Industrial Action - update 14:30 Thurs 20 Dec

The results of the Cabin Crew strike ballot are now known. I am sorry to report that 71% of union members who voted are in favour of taking action.

This is an outcome I know that some of you had hoped could have been avoided and will cause you great concern. Those who voted for strike action represent just 30% of all the Cabin Crew at Virgin Atlantic but it is that number, which will lead us into our first strike.



The union have now written to the company detailing when the intended strike action will take place and how long this will last. Unite have outlined that the stoppages will effect flights on the following dates; Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th January and Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th January.

We have been informed that participation in this action will be limited to those who are on the ground in the UKat any point during the relevant 48hour periods. At this point. I need to emphasise that no one Ð regardless of how they voted Ð has to go on strike.

Reluctantly, the pay award that was on the table must now be withdrawn, as our business braces itself for both the commercial and brand damage we are now presented with.

There will be no eleventh hour offer.

Our customers will be extremely concerned by today's news. We will do everything we can to honour our commitment to our passengers, therefore our focus is on ensuring we have appropriate contingency plans in place to limit disruption. I want to thank the many of you who have already offered to help.

The coming weeks and months are going to be extremely difficult for everyone at the airline; like many of you I too hoped this day would never happen. Our priority now is to meet our commitments to our customers and protect our airline.

Linda Moir

Director of Inflight Services

--------------------------------------------------------------------

14:30 20 Dec

I have just received the results of the Cabin Crew strike ballot and can report that 71% voted in favour of taking action.

We are obviously bitterly disappointed that a majority of those union members who chose to vote believe that striking is the best way to resolve the current situation. Those who voted for strike action represent just 30% of all the Cabin Crew at Virgin Atlantic but it is that number, which will lead us into our first strike. I don't believe that the vast majority of crew would want to damage our airline and it's reputation in this way.

As I outlined during the run up to the ballot, the pay award which was on the table throughout the course of the vote must now be withdrawn as we prepare ourselves for both the commercial and brand damage we are now presented with.

Virgin Atlantic Cabin Crew put their heart and soul into their work and can be truly proud of their contribution to the airline. However, there comes a time when we have to draw a line in the sand in the interests of all employees. There will be no eleventh hour offer.

Unite have outlined that the stoppages will effect flights on the following dates; Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th January and Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th January. At this point. I need to emphasise that no one Ð regardless of how they voted Ð has to go on strike.

We must do everything we can to fulfil our responsibilities to our customers during any periods of strike action and will therefore be raising our contingency planning levels with immediate effect. This will require extra support from across the business in the coming weeks so please keep an eye on the Verb for further details of how you might be able to help. In the meantime, we must maintain customer confidence by continuing with our day to day operations, business as usual.

It's a very sad day in Virgin Atlantics' history and one, which we had all hoped we would not have to face, but we must all draw strength, focus on the job at hand and prepare ourselves for the difficult days and weeks ahead.

Steve

As posted on cc.com and prune

Originally posted by andrew.m.wright
So I'm on the way back from Newark Liberty on the evening of the 8th [;)]

Who pays for the hotel if the flight is cancelled ?

Your travel insurance should cover it, I think...

I'm flying on VS200 from HKG to SYD on the 11th Jan (departs LHR on 10th Jan). What are your thoughts on it running? I have to be in Oz by PM of the 12th so am a little worried!

What are chances of strike being called off?
Will the flight run anyway picking up HKG crew en route?
Will Virgin transfer me to another airline? Can I get a refund for difference as assume I would be put in Y when I've paid PE?

So, if I'm getting this correct, the phrasing of 'no eleventh hour offer' means basically that there's no indication a strike will actually accomplish anything in terms of a pay raise. That is, except hurt the airline. Well I guess it's good that it comes after X-Mas.

Originally posted by VS-EWR
So, if I'm getting this correct, the phrasing of 'no eleventh hour offer' means basically that there's no indication a strike will actually accomplish anything in terms of a pay raise. That is, except hurt the airline. Well I guess it's good that it comes after X-Mas.

The phrase of 'no eleventh hour offer' also means that any hopes within a few people of some sort of last minute pay deal to avoid a strike has been quashed and the strikes will be going ahead.

Whether the strike will accomplish anything remains to be seen.

[Pete]

A very sad day for Virgin Atlantic.

Having kept up to date with this from all the various sources, I really believe the crew should have taken the 4.8% offer and go into the next round better prepared. (And before anyone pipes in with how much more pay the crew deserve, I'm not disputing that - but such a large jump in one go and such a fragmented process in the run up to it is not the way to go about this).

I can see Virgin getting through the industrial action with a combination of cover from those not taking part in the strike and from office-based staff who were once cabin crew (I understand they have refresher training courses already lined up for this).

But, I can also see this causing great animosity between the minority of cabin crew taking action, and the rest of the workforce. As was said many times in the previous thread - strikes never solve as many problems as they cause. The threat of a strike sometimes generates the best offer, but the strike itself cripples the company, and in the case of Virgin, I can only see them retreating to survive.

Originally posted by willd
If the 1,603 who voted no/didnt vote do continue to work then it will only be just under half the crew that are striking and thus some sort of reduced service should be possible. Maybe I am being optimistic but it may not be as bad as unite are claiming it will be.

Wouldn't surprise me much if the form of service on offer from VS on the strike dates (if anything) covers LHR and LGW, with the MAN flights being cancelled.

It's probably still too early to know for sure what will happen.

I'm booked on the VS200 on the 16th HKG-LHR; and based on current info, I should be okay. But who knows where developments may turn...

[Neil]

Originally posted by VS075
Wouldn't surprise me much if the form of service on offer from VS on the strike dates (if anything) covers LHR and LGW, with the MAN flights being cancelled.

Not sure about MAN services been totally cancelled. There are many flights that can be merged, the MCO's from both LGW & MAN, plus many flights to JFK/EWR, 2 flights to LAX etc. I would imagine that this is one of the many things VS will look first to see at if its possible before making such a blanket decision to cancel all MAN flights.

[Nottingham Nick]

It is now that we see how good Virgin Atlantic management's contingency planning and forward thinking really is..... or not, as the case may be. [:w]


Nick

I phoned Virgin and they said that within the next 24hrs on there website will be a list of all the flights effected and the contingency plans in place.
I was assured that this includes the movement of pax to other airlines.

Now, i forgot to ask them... I return from MCO on 15th overnight flight. Now since i dont land until 0730 will the CC just down tools mid air or wait until landing?

There's already a message on the website:-

'Currently, all flights continue to operate as normal

We sincerely apologise in advance to all of our customers for any potential disruption to their plans and would like to reassure them that Virgin Atlantic is currently working on full contingency plans and will publish full details within the next 24 hours on http://www.virginatlantic.com.

An update will be issued here at 18.00 UK time today.
'