BA: Union snubs bonuses offer

BRITISH Airways' last-ditch bid to avert the Bank Holiday strike by check-in staff appears to have failed.

Allan Black, chief negotiator for the GMB union, said the offer of £1,000 bonuses for taking fewer sick days was not enough to call off the strike.

The offer - designed to curb BA's absentee rate which is twice the national average - came in addition to the existing 8.5% three-year pay deal.

The TGWU will today announce results of a ballot of its 8,325 BA members. Chief negotiator Brendan Gold said although he was considering the new offer the strike ballot would continue.

Analyst Mike Powell at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein estimates BA will lose £10m for each strike day because it will have to shut down 60% of the network, affecting flights at all seven of the UK airports it flies from.

The GMB said its 2,600 BA members will walk out at the end of August. BA must be given seven days' notice of any strike, and neither union has yet done so.