A five-day strike by thousands of British Airways cabin crew is set to go ahead from midnight after a leader of the Unite union said there had been a “catastrophic” breakdown of talks.

Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite, said there was no chance of resuming negotiations today after talks with the airline were dramatically halted by scores of Socialist Workers Party activists last night.

Mr Woodley briefed union officials this morning but was gloomy about the chances of resuming negotiations.

The union is now pressing ahead with the first of three five-day walkouts.

Negotiations aimed at preventing the planned series of strikes ended in disarray on Saturday when scores of demonstrators stormed the building in Central London where the meeting was being held.

Police were called to the headquarters of the conciliation service Acas after members of the Socialist Workers Party managed to get to the 23rd floor where leaders of the Unite union were meeting with Willie Walsh, the BA chief executive.

The talks had to be abandoned amid scenes of chaos as the union officials and Mr Walsh were surrounded by the chanting demonstrators.

But the protesters, many holding up Socialist Workers Party banners, stayed in the building until they were ejected by police officers.

Events took a further turn last night when BA accused Derek Simpson, joint leader of Unite, of sending Twitter messages throughout the afternoon, giving a “running commentary” of the negotiations.

A string of messages appeared under the name derekamicus, on a page with a photograph of Mr Simpson.

One read: “Willie and Tony locking horns over accusations of unequal treatment of allegations of bullying,” followed by another reading: “Arguments over the 8 sacked workers,” and then: “Fear of more sackings to come.”

The airline said in a statement: “We are astonished that Derek Simpson feels it appropriate to Tweet to the world a running commentary of some very delicate negotiations on a Saturday afternoon aimed at averting strikes which will impact on thousands of hard-working families wanting to go on half-term holidays and the job security of his members.”

But speaking last night, a Unite spokesman said: “The antics of the SWP and references to Tweeting are peripheral to the real concerns to passengers.

“They want to know that we are serious about resolving this dispute, which Unite is absolutely committed to.

“We stand ready to resume talks with BA at any time.

“We urge that the distractions of today are set aside and that no time is wasted in getting back to the vital business of making progress and settling this dispute.”

The Unite union, which represents almost all of BA’s 15,000 cabin crew members, went on strike over the issues twice in March, grounding flights and causing travel chaos for thousands of passengers across the globe.

Talks since then have failed to resolve the dispute, leading Unite to call the strikes this month and next.

Unite initially planned a series of four strikes, with the first one to have started May 18, but BA won an injunction that halted them. Unite won an appeal against the injunction a few days later and vowed the remaining three strikes would continue as planned.

BA has said it will implement contingency plans that will allow it to fly more than 70 percent of its customers during the first strike. It plans to operate all flights from Gatwick and London City Airports and more than half of its schedule from Heathrow, its main hub.

(Source: Times Online UK / CNN)