British Airways and replace them with agency staff; it is estimated that the strike cost British Airways £30 million and caused disruption to 100,000 passengers. In October 2006, BA became involved in a civil rights dispute when a Christian employee was forbidden to wear a necklace bearing the cross, a religious symbol. BA's practice of forbidding such symbols has been publicly questioned by British politicians such as the former Home Secretary John Reid and the former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. Relations have been turbulent between BA and Unite. In 2007, cabin crew threatened strike action over salary changes to be imposed by
History of British Airways the aircraft; this rejection complicated Britain's integration into the European Union. Instead, the company planned to acquire American-made planes such as the Boeing 757; in 1976 the British government approved the purchase of multiple Boeing 737 aircraft. An innovation on 12 January 1975 was the British Airways Shuttle service from Heathrow to Glasgow (and later Edinburgh, Manchester, and Belfast), which allowed a walk-on no reservation service with a "guaranteed seat" — this latter feature facilitated by backup aircraft or sometimes transfers to British Midland flights. The Secretary of State for Trade, Peter Shore, reviewed the Government's aviation policy and in