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Union claims BA’s mass redundancies are ‘unlawful’
Cabin crew union Unite claims that it is unlawful for British Airways to make 12,000 staff redundant and has called on the airline’s CEO Alex Cruz to reconsider.
The airline said yesterday that it had entered into consultation with unions regarding its redundancy programme.
But Unite said BA’s ‘shock’ announcement of mass redundancies undermined the work Unite and the aviation industry has been doing to secure a financial package from the government for the entire sector.
"The sheer scale of the job losses, which will see a quarter of the airline’s workforce sacked, will also make the UK aviation sector, already very fragile as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, extremely unstable putting many thousands more jobs across the country, not just at BA, at risk," it said.
Calling on Cruz to withdraw the redundancy notices and engage with the government on a rescue plan instead, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: "BA’s decision to ignore the principle and intent of the job retention scheme and instead throw 12,000 workers onto the scrap heap is both unlawful and immoral.
"It is unlawful because they are denying these workers the meaningful consultation that the law and common decency says that they are owed.
"It is immoral because BA has been taking taxpayers’ money in recent weeks, money supplied on the proviso that the company put the workers on furlough while the industry reshaped.
"Instead, BA has taken a unilateral and selfish action that could imperil an already very fragile aviation industry – and so a great many jobs – in this country.
"UK taxpayers have not handed over their money to BA for it to embark on an opportunistic course of slashing jobs, conditions and wages, and potentially jeopardising jobs right across aviation sector."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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