LONDON — Thousands of British Airways cabin crew are to stage a three-day strike following the breakdown of talks aimed at resolving a row over sickness absence, pay and staffing, their union said yesterday.Stewards and stewardesses will walk out from January 29 to 31, the Transport and General Worker’s Union (TGWU) said. The union notified BA of its intention to call out cabin crew on strike again on February 6-8 and February 12-14 if the dispute is not resolved.

British Airways criticised the union, saying the strikes would cause massive disruption for passengers and further damage to the airline.

The union held several meetings with British Airways executive last week to avert the strike action, following a 96 percent vote for strike by the 11,000 cabin crew workers.

Jack Dromey, deputy general secretary of the union, accused BA of failing to enter into a dialogue with the union on compromise proposals, accusing them of provoking the strike action.

“Our members are fed up with being bullied into coming to work when sick and with the divisions caused by poverty levels of new entrant pay scales,” Dromy said.

“They see customer care being cut and the airline’s reputation damaged by bungling management.

“BA now have seven days to take their responsibility seriously and work with the union to avoid disruption to services and inconvenience to passengers. We are ready to resume talks at any time.”

The cabin crew have accused management of forcing them to work when they were ill, following the implementation of a new policy on sickness pay that was introduced 18 months ago.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said the company was disappointed by the union’s decision but remained focussed on finding a solution that it hoped would prevent the strikes.

“Despite its public rhetoric, the union in private remains resolute in its refusal to talk with us about any degree of change for our cabin crew,” said Walsh.

Walsh insisted the airline had not imposed any changes about sickness absence but stressed it wanted to negotiate new ways of working with its cabin crew to help put the airline in better shape to succeed in the “highly competitive” industry.

Walsh said the union had made additions to its earlier demands over a return to the “excessive” levels of sickness absence. He said the union were also demanding a “significant” pay rise for its members,

In a statement the airline said its new sickness policy had reduced average levels of absence among cabin crew from 22 days a year to 12 days.

Customers who had booked flights between Monday January 29 and Friday February 16 would be allowed to change the date of their flights, BA said.