BA union strike leader is sacked for 'misconduct'

Battle: Duncan Holley on picket duty

The £50,000-a-year union leader representing British Airways cabin crew has been sacked for "serious allegations of misconduct".

BA dismissed Duncan Holley, secretary of the British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association, on the eve of a fresh strike ballot result.

He has been a key figure in the dispute between BA and Bassa — a branch of the giant Unite union — over jobs and new contracts.

The union is appealing against the dismissal, which it branded "punitive and vindictive".

The move follows a disciplinary process lasting several months and is thought to relate to time taken off work to organise industrial action.

Mr Holley, 54, who joined picket lines at Heathrow during the first stoppages in March, draws a £42,000 BA wage as a cabin services director but also gets a top-up from the monthly contributions of Bassa members.

BA said in a statement: "It is entirely appropriate and reasonable for us to investigate serious allegations of mis-conduct. Our disciplinary process has been in place for many years and has been agreed with all the airline's recognised trade unions, including Unite.

"As a responsible company, we would not divulge details of individual cases."

Mr Holley is the most senior of dozens of union members facing disciplinary action by BA. Five have been forced to leave the company.

His dismissal will complicate efforts to find a compromise in a dispute that has continued for six months and already cost the carrier tens of millions of pounds.

Thousands of Unite members have been voting on BA's latest offer, with a "strong recommendation" to reject.

In a letter to cabin crew Unite's joint leader Tony Woodley said the union was urging rejection because of disciplinary action against more than 50 union members and BA's failure to restore travel concessions taken away from strikers.

"The charges in the great majority of cases are trivial and barely worthy of a slap on the wrist, let alone the sack.

"Normally, the sort of issues here are matters of common sense, dealt with swiftly once the matters of substance between the two sides have been resolved. Yet in this case it is precisely on these issues that management has proved most intransigent of all."

A BA spokesman said: "We have put to Unite a fair offer addressing all the concerns it has raised in the past 14 months of negotiations. It offers cabin crew the assurances they have asked for, so we ask them to accept the proposal and put this dispute behind us."

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