British Airways staff ready to take action, warns union

British Airways is facing strike chaos after a trade union warned it will move towards industrial action ‘with immediate effect’.

Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, claimed the airline has published a timetable to ‘fire and rehire’ thousands of workers on August 7.

in a letter to British Airways chief executive Alex Cruz, he pledged to ‘work every hour between now and then to convince you not to do so’.

British Airways owner iAG announced in April that it would cut up to 12,000 jobs due to the reduction in flights caused by the pandemic.

Unite has claimed the company is planning to rehire its remaining employees on downgraded terms if an agreement cannot be reached.

Mr McCluskey wrote: ‘Your decision to adopt a scorched earth strategy with a fire and rehire approach was always despicable.

‘You and your management team have dragged the good name of British Airways through the mud.

‘have you ever asked yourself why so many MPs from all parties, at the highest level, have condemned British Airways or why newspaper and media outlets have been appalled at your actions?

‘Perhaps you don’t understand that the British sense of fair play runs deep in the psyche of the British people.’

he added: ‘take this as an intention to defend our members by moving towards industrial action with immediate effect.’

Unite represents thousands of British Airways staff, including cabin crew and engineers.

British Airways said there had been job losses across every industry and many airlines had ‘already made thousands of staff redundant’.

the firm said: ‘We are not immune to this crisis. We have to adapt to survive, so we will continue with the proper, lawful consultative process and we will keep inviting union representatives to discuss our proposals to the serious challenges we face.

‘it is not too late to find solutions – as we have done with [pilots’ union] Balpa – and to protect jobs.’

Balpa last week urged members to accept a package that includes voluntary part-time working, voluntary severance, external secondments and a holding pool of the equivalent of 300 pilots employed on reduced pay.

the number of British Airways flights in the first two weeks of July was down 85 per cent on last year.

the international Air transport Association released an updated forecast on tuesday showing that global air travel is not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024, one year later than previously projected.

Comment – Page 16