New BA strike threat

The spectre of yet more crippling industrial action over the introduction of employees' swipe-cards faced British Airways this afternoon when aircraft engineers rejected a proposed deal.

BA engineers spurned a 3 per cent pay offer as well as the controversial system, raising the threat of passengers again facing huge disruption.

Members of Amicus voted by 70 per cent against the pay deal in the first of a series of ballots among BA employees.

Urgent talks will now be held between the union and BA, which was hit by an unofficial strike in July when check-in staff at Heathrow walked out in protest at the new swipe card system.

That dispute affected 80,000 people flying out of the airport on 18 and 19 July and 500 flights were cancelled at an estimated cost of £40 million.

Amicus general secretary Derek Simpson said he hoped talks could avert a strike. "This is a very powerful message from our members to British Airways," he said.

The engineers voted by 2,034 to reject the offer and 850 in favour in a near 100 per cent turnout. BA said it was disappointed with the result. A spokesman said: "We felt that three per cent, backdated to earlier in the year, is a fair offer."

Other BA employees are being balloted on the offer in the next few weeks. The unions claim swipe cards are draconian and 'big brother'. They argue BA might use the data generated to change work patterns and cut jobs.