Brown says deal to avert BA strike possible

Brown, facing an election by June, told parliament that BA and union leaders needed to take "a deep breath" and resume talks as the dispute threatened to spread across the Atlantic.

Officials from the Unite union will meet representatives of the powerful U.S. Teamsters union, which has 1.4 million members, for talks in Washington on Wednesday.

Neither union has said what the talks could lead to beyond expressions of solidarity, but media reports suggested that U.S. workers might end up disrupting flights by refusing to clean or refuel aircraft.

"We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters at Unite who are fighting for a fair contract at British Airways," Teamsters said in a statement.

Unite has called out BA cabin crew on a three-day strike from Saturday, with a four-day walkout scheduled for March 27, although both the company and the union say they are still open to talks to prevent the industrial action.

"What we need to do is to get the unions and the management to talk to each other," Brown told parliament. "I have talked to both sides and I believe the agreement that was near to being reached last Thursday is one on which they can build for an agreement this week."

Unite said it had received a large number of enquiries from trade unions around the world offering support and the Washington talks had been instigated by Teamsters.

"We have been invited there to debrief them on an issue that they feel is of importance, the standards in the aviation industry," a spokeswoman said. "Obviously all expressions of support for crew are very welcome."

BA, whose shares closed down 2 percent on Wednesday, expressed dismay at the move.

"It is sad to see Unite seeking backing from trade unions overseas to support its unjustified strike against an iconic British brand," a company spokesman said.

The British Airline Pilots Association, BALPA, said it would maintain a neutral stance in the dispute and that its members would work normally.

"Only Unite and BA can resolve the matter and comments from the sidelines will not help," the union said.

BA CONTINGENCIES

BA has trained staff from other areas of the company to fill in as cabin crew during the action, with plans to fly around 60 percent of customers booked for the March 20-22 period.

It said in a statement on Wednesday that growing numbers of cabin crew were volunteering to work normally and that over 60 other airlines had offered to help with charters or spare seats.

As a result, it said it had been able to reinstate some flights that were initially cancelled.

The head of the business lobby group the British Chambers of Commerce warned that the strike would hurt the country's image.

"I hope this strike doesn't go ahead. It will impact on business," said BCC Director General David Frost in an interview with Reuters.

"The last thing we want at this stage is the impression that Britain is returning to those days of big strikes hitting major sectors of the economy.

"I think it's in everybody's interests, it crosses the political divide to see the UK as a place where you can do business."

The Conservatives have used the strike to attack Brown over his party's funding links to the union.

Unite is the main financial backer for Labour, which is trailing the Conservatives in opinion polls before an election expected to be held on May 6.

"His (Brown's) party is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Unite union," Conservative leader David Cameron told parliament.

"They pick the candidates, they choose the policies, they elect the leader, they have special access to Downing Street. Isn't it true that when the crunch comes he can only act in the union interest, not the national interest?"

(Additional reporting by Caroline Copley, Rosalba O'Brien and Fiona Shaikh; Editing by Charles Dick)