British Airways threatens to fire pilots

LONDON: British Airways is battling its pilot union that’s pushing back on further job cuts as the carrier initiates the legal process to block the UK’S 14-day self-isolation plan for arrivals starting today.

The airline warned its pilots union that it would dismiss all of the company’s 4,300 pilots and rehire them on individual contracts unless the union reached an agreement with the carrier.

The company, which is negotiating a planned reduction of 1,130 roles represented by the Balpa union, sought another 125 pilot jobs, the union said in an email.

“This has seriously undermined our talks which now hang by a thread,” Brian Strutton, the general secretary of the union, said in an email.

A spokesperson for the airline, which is working on cutting 12,000 jobs across the company, said in an email it’s “acting now to protect as many jobs possible,” adding that “the airline industry is facing the deepest structural change in its history, as well as facing a severely weakened global economy.”

Concerned the self-isolation requirement would block its plans to restart services in July, British Airways’ parent IAG SA sent a letter to the Home Office to start the process to block the quarantine, which could lead to a lawsuit, according to a copy of the letter seen by Bloomberg News.

The letter, also signed by Europe’s two biggest discount carriers Ryanair Holdings Plc and Easyjet Plc, pointed to how the measures will apply to travellers from countries with lower infection rates than the UK, and disproportionately affect those from England than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the letter showed. The Telegraph first reported the letter.