LONDON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa Maycriticised a wave of strikes sweeping Britain as unacceptableaction that showed "contempt" for ordinary people in the run-upto Christmas.
Among planned strikes this month are walkouts by airlinecabin staff, baggage handlers, rail conductors and Post Officecounter workers.
"If these strikes share one thing in common, it's a sharedcontempt for ordinary people who are just trying to go abouttheir daily lives," May's spokesman said on Monday, adding thatparties should negotiate to avoid action.
He said the government would not rule anything out in termsof changing legislation to make striking more difficult.
British Airways (BA) said on Monday it would not becancelling flights on Dec. 25 and 26 as the airline, owned byInternational Airlines Group, holds talks at theconciliation service Acas with the Unite union in an attempt toavert walkouts by more than 2,500 cabin staff.
"We have been working on detailed contingency plans toensure that we are able to operate our normal flight programmefrom all our airports on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day," BAchief executive Alex Cruz said.
The BA strike over a pay dispute is being staged by membersof the airline's "Mixed Fleet", Unite has said, referring tocabin crew staff who have joined the airline since 2010. Theymake up about 15 percent of BA's 16,000 cabin crew.
Unite also said over 1,500 check-in staff, baggage handlersand cargo crew at airports across Britain will walk out for 48hours from Friday in a long-running pay dispute.
Conductors on the Southern railway line were also takingstrike action on Monday and Tuesday, the latest of over a dozenwalkouts during a long-running dispute over whose job it is toopen and close train doors.
Meanwhile post office counter workers on Monday began atwo-day strike over job security and pensions, during one of thebusiest weeks of their year.
The action will affect almost 300 Crown Post Offices, thelarger branches usually found on high streets, but the rest ofthe Post Office's network of 11,600 local branches, and RoyalMail's delivery services, are not involved.
Elsewhere, staff at cereal manufacturer Weetabix voted onMonday for industrial action in the New Year over proposed shiftchanges. (Reporting by Sarah Young and Michael Holden, additionalreporting by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Stephen Addison)
