IAG chief Willie Walsh has strongly rejected claims from MPs that British Airways is a “national disgrace” over the treatment of its staff during the lockdown.
Walsh, chief executive of the BA parent company, hit back after the Commons transport committee condemned the airline’s plans to axe up to 12,000 workers and to consult on changes to terms and conditions for many of the remaining 30,000 staff.
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He rejected the findings in a letter to committee chairman Huw Merriman MP, according to newspaper reports today.
He emphasised that BA “is fighting for its survival, in the face of overwhelming and unprecedented challenges, while respecting the fundamental British value of the rule of law. This is not a disgrace. Lying down and surrendering without a fight would be a disgrace and we will not do that.”
Walsh said that BA was “at this stage, only proposing changes that it wishes to consult over with a view to seeking an agreement, as required by the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992”.
He added that “this is an approach that was described as ‘perfectly lawful’ by lawyers acting for the Unite union in a previous industrial dispute in 2010.”
Unite has so far refused to engage with BA over the job-cutting plan.
Walsh claimed that, while the airline’s staff were “passionate about the company and want it to succeed”, they were being “betrayed by their trade union leaders”.
He said it was “unacceptable that a company would seek to drive this level of change under the cover of a pandemic”.
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