Britain’s biggest union has joined pilots in vowing to challenge 12,000 “heartless” job cuts planned by British Airways in the face of the coronavirus travel crisis.
The redundancies from the airline’s workforce of 42,000 were announced as parent company International Airlines Group revealed total first quarter losses of €1.3 billion against a profit of €135 million in the same period last year.
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The majority of the reduction in the operating result, which saw revenues fall 13% from €5.3 billion to €4.6 billion, was incurred by BA followed by Iberia and Aer Lingus while Spanish budget carrier Vueling saw a “modest increase” in operating loss.
All of the fall in the operating result in the quarter came in March.
BA then furloughed 22,626 staff under the government’s Covid-19 Job Retention Scheme with IAG capacity slashed by 94% in April and May.
IAG chief financial officer Stephen Gunning said: “Passenger capacity from June will depend on the timing of the easing of lockdowns and travel restrictions by governments around the world.”
But the group expects its operating loss in the current quarter to be “significantly worse” than in the first three months of the year, “given the substantial decline in passenger capacity and traffic and despite some relief on employee costs from government job retention and wage support schemes”.
Recovery several years away
And the group warned: “Recovery to the level of passenger demand in 2019 is expected to take several years, necessitating group-wide restructuring measures.”
The Unite union joined the British airline Pilots’ Association in condemning the proposed job losses despite BA pledging to consult over redundancy and restructuring proposals with its trade unions.
General secretary Len McCluskey described the measure as a “heartless decision” at odds with the course of action followed by European competitors as they seek a way through the coronoavirus crisis.
He said: “This devastating announcement comes on the day that BA staff joined together to lay to rest one of their own, a long-standing and much loved cabin crew member who tragically died from the coronavirus contracted while carrying out his duties bringing home loved ones from overseas to reunite concerned families.
“This announcement will be felt as the stab in the back it undoubtedly is by the close knit BA family.
“We say to BA’s boss Alex Cruz that this is a heartless decision in a time of national crisis.
“With the majority of BA’s workers on furlough, we would have expected him to work with both us and the government to honour the spirit of the government’s job retention scheme.”
He added: “Governments across Europe, in Spain, Germany and France are working with trade unions and airlines to rebuild back better, keeping people in work while the sector recovers.
Global transport ‘frontline’
“We simply cannot understand as to why Alex Cruz is not doing the same, unless he has sought an opportunity to see other airlines fail, so that BA can profit.
“This workforce has worked tirelessly, heroically and unnoticed throughout this crisis, in dangerous circumstances on the global transport frontline.
“A repatriation flight is without doubt rife with risk with the potential exposure of airline crew and staff. In recent weeks, they have played their part, with many volunteering for rescue flights, regardless of their own safety and often with little or no PPE equipment to help distressed UK citizens come home to their loved ones.
“They simply do not deserve to be treated as a commodity to be disposed of in this way.
“This industry must pull together or many more working people will suffer the same fate as these 12,000 BA workers.”
More: Balpa pledges to fight for BA staff at risk of redundancy