MPs label British Airways a ‘national disgrace’ over job cuts
MPs have condemned British Airways, calling the embattled carrier a “national disgrace” over its plans to make 12,000 of its staff redundant.
In a report from the transport select committee, MPs described the airline’s actions as a “calculated attempt to take advantage of the pandemic to cut 12,000 jobs and to downgrade the terms and conditions of approximately 35,000 employees”.
The report urged airlines not to make job cuts until the government’s job retention scheme ends in October.
It said that companies should wait to see what the government planned to do to support the restart of the sector, which has been hammered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Committee chair Huw Merriman said that the behaviour of BA and parent company IAG “fell well below the standards expected from any employer, especially in light of the scale of taxpayer subsidy, at this time of national crisis.
“It is unacceptable that a company would seek to drive this level of change under the cover of a pandemic”.
BA’s redundancy plan has already been the subject of an impassioned emergency debate in parliament, while fellow committee member Gavin Newlands has also submitted an emergency bill to try and outlaw controversial “fire and rehire” tactics.
In a statement, the airline hit back at the report, saying: “Mr Merriman made clear several weeks ago that the Transport Select Committee’s report would be “fuelled by the kind and impassioned messages” he received, rather than the facts.
“The facts are clear. The government has no plans to help the sector restart and recover as evidenced by the introduction of the 14 day quarantine regulation.
“We find ourselves in the deepest crisis ever faced by the airline industry. A crisis not of our making but one which we must address.
“We will do everything in our power to ensure that BA can survive and sustain the maximum number of jobs consistent with the new reality of a changed airline industry in a severely weakened global economy”.
Fellow sector members have been more sympathetic to BA, with Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye telling Morning Wire:
“I think we have to recognise that those companies in the aviation sector and in many other businesses in the UK are really in survival mode and having to make unpalatable decisions”
Relax quarantine as soon as possible, report finds
The report also called for the government to relax its 14-day quarantine rules at the end of June if conditions allow it.
Merriman said: “It is imperative that the UK government finds a way to get aviation back on its feet.
“We don’t believe this fits with a blanket 14-day quarantine period for travellers to the UK. In today’s report, we recommend a more agile response”.
The quarantine plan has faced a severe backlash from the aviation industry, which warned that it would cripple any recovery and lead to more job cuts.
Yesterday BA, in conjunction with Ryanair and Easyjet, launched legal action against the plan.
The paper also said that the government should bring forward a plan to aid the sector’s recovery as soon as possible.
To stimulate demand and protect businesses, the committee recommended a temporary six month suspension of Air Passenger Duty payments and 12 month business rates relief for airlines and airports across the UK, as is currently the case in Scotland.
However, industry body Airlines UK slammed the report, saying it was “deeply disappointed” that it did not focus on the challenges to the sector caused by the virus.
“This is the most devastating crisis to hit the industry in its history and a conservative, business-as-usual Whitehall approach to the recovery will not be enough when other countries are pumping billions into supporting their aviation sectors”, said chief executive Tim Alderslade.
He added that unless the government showed “more imaginative thinking” the sector would be relegated to the second tier of global aviation.