Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
BA staff ‘having sleepless nights’
WORKERS FACING REDUNDANCIES OR NEW WORK TERMS
BRITISH Airways staff in west London have admitted they are having “sleepless nights” over the company’s proposed job cuts.
The national airline has been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic and as many as 12,000 BA staff are at risk of redundancy, while those who remain reportedly face having to work at lower paygrades and with less favourable contracts.
Although BA has now started to resume some flights, many staff who live in west London and work out of Heathrow Airport are angry at how they have been treated, and have called on the airline to scrap its ‘fire and rehire’ plans.
BA say the company is doing everything it can to protect as many jobs as possible.
One BA worldwide cabin crew member, who lives in South Ruislip but asked not to be named due to fearing for their job, said: “This has given me so many sleepless nights about what is going to happen in the future.
“As one of his constituents, I hope Boris Johnson will look at what BA are doing and are how immoral their actions are.”
Another BA worker who asked not to be named, from South Ruislip and part of its Eurofleet crew, said: “What BA is doing is morally wrong.
“I have been with BA for 25 years, for the company to just change our contracts and use this pandemic as an excuse is totally unacceptable. We feel betrayed.”
Dozens of workers protested in Ruislip on Wednesday July 22 and called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to supports workers and residents living in his Uxbridge constituency.
As part of the BAbetrayal campaign, organised by the Unite Union, protesters gathered at Ruislip Manor Tube station before marching to the High Street.
Unite Union is calling for BA’s allocation of lucrative landing slots to be reviewed as the flag carrier currently receives preferential treatment.
The airline may also stop flying from Gatwick Airport, with Heathrow Airport remaining its main hub. At present, Terminal 5 at the airport is exclusively used by BA and it also uses Terminal 3.
A BA employee from Uxbridge, part of the Eurofleet main crew, said: “In the middle of the pandemic my husband had a stress-related stroke because of the pressure I have been under at work.
“I can’t afford to lose my job or accept the new terms and conditions that they are trying to force on us.”
Another BA worker, also from Uxbridge and part of the Eurofleet cabin crew, added: “As a resident of Uxbridge, I feel that Boris is neglecting his constituents. It seems he is afraid to stand up to big corporations.
“I hope he commits to reviewing the slots.”
MPs from across the political divide are calling for a review of landing and take-off slots in response to BA’s project fire and rehire.
More than 150 MPs have signed a pledge calling for government action but this is yet to be taken.
BA chief executive, Willie Walsh, has said that he does not expect the airline to recover to levels similar to those seen last year until 2023.
Unite executive officer Sharon Graham said: “Boris Johnson’s words of support for BA staff and his talk of ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’ is empty rhetoric unless the government acts.
“There must be consequences for British Airways’ decision to press ahead with its plans to fire and rehire its workforce in the middle of the worst health crisis in a century.
“BA staff and constituents want to see action from Boris Johnson. Public anger is growing and many MPs from across the political divide are already calling for a review of landing and take-off slots in response to BA’s project fire and rehire. Why isn’t Boris Johnson?
“There should be consequences to BA’s actions. The company is essentially creating an unrecognisable airline – it should not automatically control over half the landing slots at Heathrow.
“It is simply wrong for BA to have privileged access to landing slots while its workforce is sacrificed for the benefit of shareholders.
“Boris Johnson needs to take back control from BA and fight for British jobs.”
A BA spokesperson said the company is doing everything it can to protect as many jobs as possible. The company is in a consultation period with staff whose jobs are under threat.
A spokesperson for BA said: “We are acting now to protect as many jobs as possible. The airline industry is facing the deepest structural change in its history, as well as facing a severely weakened global economy.
“We call on Unite and GMB to work with us, as the pilots’ union BALPA is doing.”
The Prime Minister has been contacted for comment on the situation in his constituency.