Some 91% of votes cast by members of the 8,800-strong British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association have voted in favour of industrial action. However the association has not backed strike action. The union has been pressing the airline to drop its new performance review system, which provides onboard staff with immediate feedback on their performance from passengers and colleagues.
Matt Smith, a regional Unite officer, said: “Our members have voted overwhelmingly against the introduction of this flawed dashboard scheme. The BA management should note the enormous strength of feeling against this policy with what, we suspect, is a hidden agenda of future job losses. A perfectly adequate performance management policy already exists.
“It is completely unfair to expect them to be placed in a league table, competing against each other, over onboard issues that are clearly out of their control.
“Cabin crew time spent on these wasteful performance schemes is crew time not giving passengers value for money in a highly competitive premium market.”
The industrial action will take the form of cabin crew declining to engage with the new performance management system, including refusing to sign off feedback forms.