Cabin crew strike boss jets off on his luxury holiday (and you've guessed right - he's NOT flying BA)
The union chief behind the British Airways dispute flew out for a luxury sunshine holiday yesterday – as his cabin crew members began a fresh strike, ruining trips for thousands.
While 10,000 BA customers had their travel plans axed and hundreds of flights were cancelled, Tony Woodley and his wife Janet jetted to Cyprus for a week’s break at an exclusive air-conditioned villa with private swimming pool.
Mr Woodley, 62, did not fly with BA, ensuring that his trip was not affected by the industrial action. He also escaped the wrath of his members by avoiding BA aircraft manned by non-striking ‘scabs’.
The £122,000-a-year joint general secretary of Unite was expected to have been a key player in a fresh round of peace talks with BA chief executive Willie Walsh this week.
Up and away: Tony Woodley leaves for Manchester airport yesterday
It was hoped the negotiations would avert another round of strikes planned for next month in the long-running row over pay, staffing levels and working conditions.
The main sticking point in the dispute is the airline’s refusal to reinstate free staff and family travel perks for crew who have been involved in the five strikes held so far this year.
But at lunchtime yesterday, Mr Woodley left the crisis far behind.
Dressed in a white short-sleeved shirt and dark casual trousers, he drove his wife the 26 miles from their smart £350,000 detached home near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, to Manchester Airport 40 minutes away, before boarding a flight to Paphos in Cyprus.
BA negotiators were said to be ‘stunned’ when they were told by mediators at the TUC late last week that Mr Woodley would not be available because he was ‘going on holiday to Cyprus’.
Last month, Mr Woodley missed negotiations with BA because he was in Cuba celebrating the 51st anniversary of the revolution that swept Fidel Castro to power.
His latest jaunt has infuriated BA bosses and surprised many within his union.
The villa in Cyprus where Tony Woodley has gone on holiday
Unite says negotiations will be handled in Mr Woodley’s absence by Derek Simpson, his fellow joint general secretary, who two weeks ago caused uproar by revealing details of talks with BA management on Twitter from inside the meeting.
The negotiations later had to be abandoned after an invasion by hardline Socialist Workers’ Party protesters.
A senior BA source said last night: ‘It is unbelievable that Tony Woodley has gone off on holiday at a time when thousands of our passengers are having their journeys ruined by his members.
‘We believe that Mr Woodley is the only person in Unite who can achieve a settlement to this long and damaging dispute because he can influence his cabin crew members.
‘Mr Simpson is less likely to help us reach a deal because he does not appear to take the talks seriously. Nor does he have the influence over his members commanded by Mr Woodley.’
The luxury villa being rented by the union chief is a modern architect-designed property in an elevated position in the village of Peyia, near Paphos in Cyprus. It is costing around £600 for the week.
Place in the sun: The rooftop pool at the villa
The three-bedroom holiday home boasts a rooftop swimming pool from which guests can admire stunning views over the Mediterranean. It also features a 6ft-wide bed in the master bedroom.
It is owned by Anna Mowatt, ex-wife of Jim Mowatt, Unite’s Director of Education and a close ally of Mr Woodley.
The popular sandy beach at Coral Bay is within five minutes’ drive and the villa is in easy reach of the area’s dramatic sea caves, the Akamas Peninsula national park, the Troodos mountains and the fishing villages of Laatchi and Polis.
Earlier this year, it was claimed in a newspaper article that Mr Woodley’s summer holiday plans would not be disrupted by strike action as he was heading to his caravan in North Wales with his wife.
But shortly before midday yesterday he was seen loading a set of suitcases into a Vauxhall people carrier on his drive. Also parked at his home was a £44,000 Range Rover Sport which, it is understood, is provided by Unite as part of his pay and perks package.
The car is popular with wealthy footballers, including Wayne Rooney.
Moments before they set off for the airport, the couple were joined by a woman in her 50s, who added her luggage to the boot of the people carrier before getting into the back seat of the vehicle.
The Unite boss addresses a recent strike demo as colleague Derek Simpson looks on
The latest strike in the 15-month-old BA cabin crew strike is due to last until Wednesday. With little sign of a breakthrough, Unite has threatened to ballot for more walkouts next month – at the height of the school holiday season.
Yesterday – the 18th day of action since March, and the third five-day strike in the past month – BA claimed to have flown around 60,000 people, or more than three-quarters of those who had flights booked.
The airline said more cabin crew than before had crossed picket lines, enabling BA to operate a greater number of flights.
Every strike day costs the airline £7 million and the bill for the walkouts will have risen to more than £150 million by the end of the latest stoppage.
Unite yesterday increased its strike pay for cabin crew from £30 to £45 a day and said it was considering £1,000 loans for hardship cases.
The union insisted that unless the travel concessions were reinstated in full, it believed the next series of strikes would be strongly supported and have a ‘huge impact’ on flights.
Unite said last night: ‘Tony Woodley is away with his wife on a trip which was planned a long time ago.
‘Derek Simpson will be ready and available to meet with BA at any time if the airline wishes to do so.’
Last night, a close relative of the Woodleys confirmed they had gone on holiday for a week to the villa owned by Mrs Mowatt in Peyia – and that they had flown there from Manchester yesterday afternoon.
Left-wing Mr Woodley rose rapidly through the ranks of the Transport & General Workers’ Union, which merged with Amicus to form Unite.
He was member of the so-called ‘awkward squad’ of union bosses opposed to the New Labour policies of Tony Blair.
In March, The Mail on Sunday revealed how Mr Simpson admitted visiting a seedy go-go bar while on official business in Thailand with fellow union official Terry Pye.
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