British Airways Seeks Truce With Unions

British Airways offered to open new talks with the transport workers union, seeking a truce with 8,500 striking flight attendants while averting a separate confrontation with ground workers. The Transport and General Workers Union handles negotiations for the attendants, who walked out Wednesday in a pay dispute, and 9,000 ground workers, irked by the airline’s plans to sell in-flight catering operations. The flight attendants’ strike, which ends today, has been costly for British Airways. It forced the airline to cancel hundreds of flights and left tens of thousands of people stranded in airports. British Airways Chief Executive Bob Ayling and Bill Morris, head of the transport workers union, both agreed that the end of the strike by the British Airline Stewards and Stewardesses Assn. provides a chance for peace. Ayling made his offer in a letter sent Friday to Morris. The airline has been operating on a reduced schedule with help from the 3,500 members of a breakaway union, Cabin Crew 89, that has accepted the pay offer. British Airways said it hopes separate negotiations could begin immediately in the dispute with ground workers.