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
Qatar Airways He added, "They are throwing stones at my country for no reason at all". The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has "slammed" Qatar Airways for certain stipulations found in the standard hiring contracts for female cabin crew members, including the need to apply for permission before getting married. The ITF has lobbied the International Civil Aviation Organization to "take action" on what ITF termed “flagrant abuses of aviation workers’ labour rights" by carriers based in Qatar and the UAE. In August 2015, Qatar Airways was forced to relax its policy of sacking cabin crew for getting pregnant or marrying in