Are BA pilots justified in striking for more pay?

HERE we go again! Always at holiday time some union calls for industrial action to disrupt family holidays. The BA pilots’ strike is particularly vindictive, not just because of their high salaries, but the fact it could happen at the peak of the school holidays. Next it will be the annual French air traffic controllers’ strike. Even more galling is that the Government has failed to re-write the laws on essential service workers going on strike. BA pilots on salaries of £167,000plus should wear their uniforms in the street so shop workers on £12,000 can decide whether to withdraw their own labour and not serve them. Mike Catterall, Accrington, Lancs. There is condemnation of highly qualified pilots on £3,500 week who are seeking a large pay rise. Meanwhile, a potato crisp aficionado and football pundit in a TV studio earns £36,000 a week and footballers are paid £360,000 a week. What a strange sense of priorities we have. D. M. BOON, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Northumberland. IT’S interesting that pilots want a share of BA profits as well as a pay rise. Some of BA’s large profits have been as a result of reducing the standard of service, particularly for short-haul passengers. These profits should be spent on improving customer service rather than adding to the pilots’ pay. HAMISH MacBeTH, Reading, Berks. My Wife and i are due to fly to Hong kong with BA to join a cruise. Will our holiday be wrecked thanks to the greedy pilots? Ted Shepherd, Windsor, Berks. PILOTS are threatening to go on strike if they are not given a share of BA’s profits. I assume if BA makes a loss, they will take a salary cut. Unlike the pilots, pigs might fly. A. McGRATH, Wallingford, Oxon. The public is yet again subjected to upheaval, stress and discomfort because of strike action. it may be an idea not to book a flight and instead plough our money into Uk tourism. Pilots can have an even longer holiday if they aren’t required. GRACE JACKSON, Chorley, Lancs.