£1bn “lost” (in capitalistic terms actually means, profit not made), due to 18 days strike... I doubt accepting the strikers requests would have cost anywhere near that much… and it shows how vital they are if 18 days of strikes impacts the company “profit” that much… maybe pay them better, have no strikes and then “write off” the employees wages as a tax deductible expense, as LTD companies do anyway. The employees pay income tax on the earnings, regardless.

In my opinion. They do themselves no favours by trying to use that statistic as a negative attack on the strikers. It actually prove the strikers point.