Unions say they are prepared to continue deadlocked talks with British Airways on job cuts

October 6th, 2009 BA cuts 1,000 jobs, will shrink Heathrow crewsLONDON — British Airways PLC says it is shedding 1,000 fulltime jobs and putting 3,000 more employees on part-time work and reducing size of cabin crews at Heathrow in an effort to get the troubled airline's finances back in order. BA spokesman Paul Marston said Tuesday the company was in "a very serious financial position" and was working hard to turn itself around with an aggressive cost-reduction program.

September 30th, 2009 British Airways launches luxury London-NY flightsLONDON — British Airways is launching its pricey new business class service between London and New York. The first flight takes off at 12:50 p.m.

July 29th, 2009 British Airways cuts short haul free mealsLONDON — British Airways PLC is scrapping all free meals — except breakfast — on its short-haul flights as the airline continues to trim costs amid a recession-driven downturn in demand for travel. BA said Wednesday that the decision to cut meals on flights lasting less than two hours would save the airline around 22 million pounds ($36 million) each year.

July 14th, 2009 British Airways fighting for survival, CEO saysLONDON — British Airways' proposed 3,700 job cuts are essential to the company's survival as it faces the "eye of the storm" ravaging the airline industry, Chief Executive Willie Walsh said Tuesday. Thousands of BA ground staff have railed against the planned job cuts and an accompanying two-year pay freeze, saying the airline should focus on cutting costs elsewhere.

July 3rd, 2009 Airline BA to cut capacity, delay new planesLONDON — British Airways PLC announced Friday it will ground aircraft, slash seat numbers and postpone taking delivery of a dozen new Airbus A380 superjumbos as it faces a recession-driven decline in passengers. The airline said it carried 2.93 million passengers in June, 5 percent fewer than in June 2008.

July 1st, 2009 BA calls in mediator for union talksLONDON — British Airways PLC called in a government-backed mediator on Wednesday to help hammer out a deal with unions over thousands of job cuts and pay freeze as the airline seeks to avoid a damaging strike. The airline and unions representing flight attendants and ground staff have failed to agree on a series of cost-cutting measures that the carrier argues are necessary to cope with a downturn in demand cause by the global recession, including more than 3,500 job losses.

June 18th, 2009 Pilots union backs pay cuts at British AirwaysLONDON — A pilots union on Friday called on members at British Airways to accept pay cuts and productivity concessions to save the troubled carrier 26 million pounds ($42.2 million) a year. In return, pilots would be offered shares of BA stock if the company achieves certain growth targets.

June 12th, 2009 British postal workers to strike next weekLONDON — A British union says thousands of postal workers will strike next week in a dispute over jobs and services. The Communication Workers Union says up to 10,000 mail sorters, letter carriers and other London employees will walk out June 19 for 24 hours.

May 5th, 2009 Boston Globe to resume talks with largest unionBOSTON — The owner of The Boston Globe will resume negotiations with its largest union. This development comes more than a day after talks to cut millions of dollars from the union's contract ended at an impasse.

May 4th, 2009 Times Co., Boston Globe approach midnight deadlineBOSTON — Management for The Boston Globe has called its union leaders to a meeting before a deadline to meet concessions demanded by the newspaper's owner, The New York Times Co. A report on the Globe's Web site says leaders of the three largest unions were told to be prepared to "enter negotiations or receive a message from the company." Union leaders say the Times Co.

May 4th, 2009 NY Times Co., Boston Globe talk past deadlineBOSTON — Amid threats of a shutdown and allegations of bullying, talks between The Boston Globe's unions and its owner continued early Monday — well past a midnight deadline — as the sides sought to agree on $20 million in concessions to keep the newspaper open. The Globe's owner, The New York Times Co., said it had given the Globe's biggest union a copy of a notice it was prepared to file Monday if it was unable to agree on the concessions by midnight Sunday.

May 3rd, 2009 Times Co., Boston Globe unions discuss concessionsBOSTON — Labor union leaders at The Boston Globe continue to meet with representatives of the newspaper's owner, The New York Times Co., about contract concessions management says are needed to keep the Globe running. A Boston Newspaper Guild spokesman says the talks are expected to last late into Sunday night.

April 24th, 2009 Lufthansa says it's prepared for difficult marketFRANKFURT — Airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG said Friday it expects the current difficult operating environment to continue in 2009, but that it was well prepared for the economic turbulence and the expected consolidation in the airline industry. At the company's annual general meeting, Cologne-based Lufthansa, Germany's largest airline, reiterated the extent and duration of the current economic crisis can't be forecast.

April 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's leading private carrier Jet Airways Friday said it has cut salaries of at least 370 senior employees as the airline was bleeding on account of falling traffic and rising operational costs. 'We have temporarily imposed a reduction in salaries for the management cadre.

March 29th, 2009 KOLKATA - British Airways suspended its direct service to London from here Sunday, with the last flight taking off at around 5 a.m., even as national carrier Air India resumed operations on the route the same day. British Airways, which operated three direct fights a week from the city to Heathrow Airport in London, decided to suspend operations as it found the route unprofitable.