The threat of disruption to British Airways' flights was lifted last night after the airline and leaders of three unions struck a deal over the use of swipe cards and pay.
A second day of negotiations at the TUC in central London reached agreement after both sides made concessions after an unofficial walkout that cost BA an estimated £50m.
The unions agreed that 2,500 check-in staff at Heathrow and Gatwick airports will use swipe cards to clock in and out electronically from Sep tember 1, after the airline dropped an earlier proposal to impose the system from August 18.
The company agreed to separate wages from working conditions. A 3% pay rise held up since the beginning of the year by the clocking on dispute will be awarded, backdated to January, if staff in consultative ballots accept the deal recommended by the unions.
The two sides decided to set up a working party to discuss possible changes to hours and shifts, effectively the deployment of staff across terminals. It will report by September 17.
The breakthrough ends a dispute that saw more than 500 flights cancelled and the holiday plans of 80,000 passengers disrupted when hundreds of staff staged an unofficial strike at Heathrow terminals 1 and 4 on the weekend before last.
Yesterday's deal was brokered by the TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, when divisions between the three unions involved - TGWU, GMB and Amicus - and BA made it impossible to achieve a settlement in talks last week.
The GMB had adopted the most hardline position against imposition of the swipe cards. Its general secretary, Kevin Curran, yesterday insisted that the union had not backed down, as the introduction of the swipe cards had been negotiated.
Most of the 2,500 staff involved were women with families, he said, and BA had guaranteed that the information collected under the new system would not change their working patterns.
"It was a 21st century dispute where low-paid, mainly women, workers stood up and demanded dignity, respect, and consultation from their employer," Mr Curran said. "I believe that this dispute proves that time is the new money, and work-life balance and the quality of people's lives will become a major part of the collective bargaining agenda."
The loss-making airline was anxious to resolve the dispute before a presentation to the City today at which it is expected to announce that it plunged heavily into the red during the first three months of the financial year, due to the economic downturn, Iraq war and the Sars outbreak.
BA's chief executive Rod Eddington, intervened earlier this week when he conceded that managers had underestimated staff opposition to the introduction of swipe cards, amid fears about how the data collected would be used.
Although the company again shifted the implementation date and agreed to tackle pay as a separate issue, it persuaded the unions, in return, to accept the principle of electronic time-keeping.
Mervyn Walker, BA director of operations at Heathrow and its chief negotiator, said he was pleased at the outcome.
"This is not from anybody's perspective the unions back ing down, or us backing down. This has been concluded in the spirit of compromise."
A three-page memorandum signed by all the parties recognised that BA needed to "better compete in very difficult market conditions", and that further disruption would undermine its future.
The GMB dropped its opposition in return for safeguards on how the new system would operate, which were given in the six-point memo.
"The company have guaranteed that the new system will not be used to introduce split shifts or annualised hours for staff who do not wish to be employed on that basis," says the document. "Local discussions can take place to agree anomalies."
The outgoing TGWU general secretary, Sir Bill Morris, said he was very pleased with the outcome.
"We had a problem, we represented our members and there's been a lot of negotiations," said Sir Bill who denied any split within his ranks after complaints that he had tried to reach a private deal with BA to the exclusion of other unions.
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