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Gordon Brown has labelled British Airways cabin crew strike as "unjustified and deplorable" this morning, as the government steps up the pressure on the Unite trade union. The prime minister turned on one of the Labour party’s biggest donors after conversations with the Unite leadership failed to produce a breakthrough at the weekend.
Asked in an interview with BBC Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour whether Lord Adonis, the transport secretary, was right in yesterday calling the strikes "totally unjustified", Brown said:
"I agree. It is the wrong time, it is unjustified, it is deplorable, we shouldn’t have a strike. It is not in the company’s interest, it is not in the workers’ interest and it is certainly not in the national interest. I hope that this strike will be called off."
Meanwhile, British Airways is preparing to announce its strike-breaking schedule later today after pledging it will run up to seven out of 10 flights during a three-day cabin crew walkout due to begin on Saturday. BA’s chief executive, Willie Walsh, said yesterday that he hopes to run up to 70% of BA’s daily schedule during the walkouts – meaning that around 490 flights will still operate each day. More than 500,000 passengers will be affected by the seven days of strikes but BA has already offered full refunds to anyone who has booked to travel with the airline between 19 March and 31 March.
"I don’t want to mislead people, we’re not going to be able to operate all of our schedule, that’s clear," Walsh told the Sunday Telegraph. "It will be more than 50% but probably won’t be more than 70%." He added: "We are looking to maximise the number of destinations we serve in the interests of our customers. We want to get as many of our customers to their destination as possible." BA plans to counter the cabin crew strike with 1,000 volunteer flight attendants drawn from its 38,000-strong workforce and 23 aircraft leased from other operators, complete with their own crews. However, the airline has admitted that the onboard service on many flights will be limited.
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