TIMELINE-British Airways' battle with unions

March 19 (Reuters) - A three-day strike by British Airways cabin crew will go ahead from Saturday after talks with management collapsed, Britain's Unite union said on Friday.

Here is a timeline of events in the battle between BA and the Unite union, which represents BA staff:

Oct. 5, 2009 - BA announces plan to cut 1,700 staff in Britain and implement a two-year freeze in basic pay for cabin crew.

Oct. 7 - The Unite union says BA must abandon plans to cut jobs and resume talks or face possible strike action by cabin crew in the run-up to Christmas.

Oct. 30 - Unite launches a legal challenge against BA's plan to change working patterns for 14,000 cabin crew, which fails.

Dec. 14 - BA cabin crew call a 12-day strike planned over Christmas, hours after the airline revealed a 3.7 billion pound ($5.52 billion) hole in its pension fund.

Dec. 15 - BA takes legal action to halt the 12-day strike by cabin crew and two days later wins a court ruling stopping the Christmas strike action.

Jan. 20, 2010 - Unite says it will re-ballot staff but BA cabin crew say they will not strike over the Easter holiday period, which this year is in the first week of April, because of the public backlash over the planned Christmas strike.

Jan. 25 - Unite opens a new strike ballot after two weeks of talks with BA fail to secure a deal.

Feb. 11 - A number of BA cabin crew are suspended over reports that staff posted intimidating comments online, a week after BA posts a surprise third-quarter operating profit.

Feb. 19 - Unite loses a High Court bid to overturn changes to cabin crews' working arrangements.

Feb. 22 - More than 80 percent of the 9,000 BA cabin crew balloted by Unite back industrial action.

March 4 - BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh says 6,000 staff have volunteered to step in and keep the airline operating in the event of a strike.

March 12 - Unite says its members will strike for three days from March 20 and for four days from March 27, while BA remove a formal offer made to staff the day before and conditional on Unite not naming any strike dates.

March 15 - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says a strike by BA cabin crew is "unjustified and deplorable" and should be called off.

March 16 - BA reaches agreement with unions on the future of its pensions scheme.

March 18 - Talks resume to try to prevent strike.

March 19 - Unite announces that talks with management have collapsed and the strike is to go ahead from midnight.