British Airways cabin crew staff have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action over pay and conditions.
The BA staff union, Unite, has said that 80% of the11,691 ballot papers it received were in favour of striking, with just 1,789 employees voting against it. However, support for the strike was lower than in the earlier void ballot, which had a higher turnout and which saw 92% of those voting backing a strike.
Unite said it would not be announcing any strike dates as it hoped to continue negotiations with BA to avoid taking industrial action.
"We can only hope that BA management will now recognise the only way to resolve this is through negotiation, not through litigation and certainly not through intimidation," said the union's general secretary, Len McCluskey.
BA is losing money and needs to cut costs to stand any chance of making a profit. It introduced a number of measures last November, including reducing the number of crew on long-haul flights and bringing in a two-year pay freeze from 2010.
It is these measures that have angered BA staff. On Friday, a High Court judge ruled that BA was within its rights to make the changes to save money.
The vote result comes as passengers are suffering delays and cancellations due to industrial disputes elsewhere in Europe. On Monday, 4,000 pilots at German airline Lufthansa began four days of strike action. The carrier has cancelled approximately 3,000 flights and has warned of delays domestically and internationally.
Unions representing French air traffic controllers have announced a four-day strike, beginning on Tuesday, that will result in hundreds of flights in and out of Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports being cancelled.
