BA pay-slips 'fast-tracked to show strike losses'

British Airways cabin crew claimed today that their pay slips had been brought forward to show them how much money they had lost by joining the wave of strikes over jobs and cost-cutting.

The Unite union said one crew member was given a hand-written pay slip showing she had lost £800 as a result of the three-day walkout last week and a four-day stoppage which will end tonight.

Hundreds of strikers will travel to London later today for a rally at the TUC headquarters to mark the end of the latest phase of industrial action.

Unite leaders Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson are expected to address the cabin crew to praise their "bravery" in going on strike in the face of allegations of bullying from the company.

"We understand that BA has fast-tracked the issuing of pay slips to show cabin crew how much their pay has been cut in an attempt to shock them," said a union official.

"In some case pay slips have been hand-written."

A BA spokesman said: "All our pay slips are automated - there are no handwritten pay slips.

"We have only just issued pay slips for March - these could conceivably include some loss of pay for those crew who did not report for duty during a strike period.

"We made it clear to cabin crew, well in advance of Unite's unjustified strike action, that they would not be paid from the point they failed to report for duty to the point at which we could reasonably allocate another duty.

"Our operation has got off to a strong start this morning.

"Cabin crew continue to report as normal at Gatwick, and Heathrow levels remain above the level we need to operate our published schedule."