Unite aghast over BA volunteer crew ploy

In a letter to Lord Adonis, Unite said it was seriously worried that using up to "1,000 fast-tracked, under-trained volunteers" to deputise for cabin crew would damage not only BA's but also Britain's reputation as a country where safety standards are respected.

"Unite is writing formally to you to request an urgent investigation by your department into the rushing through of stand-in cabin crew and ask that you take all steps to assure yourself, the government and the travelling public that during this dispute corners have not been cut in the standards which govern our aviation industry," they wrote.

The Department for Transport responded that passengers' safety was its highest priority - but didn't mention whether its right-wing chief would launch a specific investigation into BA's volunteers before the strike started.

A Unite spokesman said: "BA's figure of 1,000 volunteers is highly suspect. We have it on good authority from a source at the training centre that BA has a maximum of 345 volunteers - and there are likely to be much less than that."

While claiming neutrality, pilots' union Balpa offered some support for the strike yesterday.

Spokesman Keith Bill said "We're leaving it to pilots to make their own decisions whether they choose to volunteer as cabin crew. There will be more strike-breakers from Unite than Balpa anyway.

"We certainly won't be penalising our members if they choose not to volunteer."

Asked whether he thought pilots deputising for cabin crew would poison relations after the strike, Mr Bill said: "Unite will have a lot of rebuilding relations to do too, with all the other non-striking members of the aviation sector."

Senior Unite members met long into the night with their US counterparts yesterday in a bid to drum up global support.

The powerful Teamsters union's members work on ground operations and aircraft services at major US airports - and have the capacity to seriously affect BA's trans-Atlantic routes if they support the strike.