{"id":21670,"date":"2020-05-26T12:11:58","date_gmt":"2020-05-26T11:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=21670"},"modified":"2020-05-26T13:02:03","modified_gmt":"2020-05-26T12:02:03","slug":"betrayal-of-workers-and-of-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=21670","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Betrayal of workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and of Britain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Unite launched a major\u00c2\u00a0UK wide\u00c2\u00a0campaign on Friday May 22\u00c2\u00a0against British Airways\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (BA)\u00c2\u00a0opportunistic plans to use the Covid-19 pandemic to betray thousands of staff and the public.<\/p>\n

The company has served BA workers with a Section 188 notice \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which effectively sacks 42,000 workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c only to bring them back on considerably worse terms and conditions. The measure will also cut up to 12,000 staff.<\/p>\n

Unite believes BA has \u00e2\u20ac\u0098betrayed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 workers and Britain itself. BA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parent company, IAG, is not in any threat of insolvency. It sits on\u00c2\u00a0assets and reserves that could see it through this crisis without the need for permanent cuts or redundancies.<\/p>\n

The company pays dividends to shareholders in the billions – while, as Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said in a letter to the firm, entitled \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Using Covid-19 for corporate gain’ \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsitting on a cash pile, assets and reserves that could see you through this crisis without the need for permanent cuts or redundancies.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

McCluskey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s letter continues, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bYour operational management has made catastrophic errors, most noticeably the utter mismanagement of the oil hedge that cost the company more than it will recoup through many thousands of redundancies.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165
\n\"\"Unite campaign projection on to Marble Arch\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

British Airways has also fully accessed taxpayers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 money by taking advantage of the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Job Retention Scheme \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a point also referenced in the letter. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou take public money from the British taxpayer to safeguard jobs but instead give notice of your intention to slash them while cynically using the British flag to drive sales. In simple terms, you are betraying both Britain and your own workforce,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 adds Len McCluskey.<\/p>\n

The Unite general secretary wrote to\u00c2\u00a0members of the board of IAG, copied to Willie Walsh, IAG CEO, and Luis Gallego Mart\u0102\u00adn, chairman and CEO of Iberia.<\/p>\n

In the letter Len McCluskey writes,\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI have no option but to do all I can to protect my members and shine a light on your betrayal of Britain and your cynical use of this crisis as cover for your corporate greed.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn the first stages, I have authorised a multifaceted campaign in defence of our members.<\/p>\n

Deplorable actions<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis as you may know means that we will ensure that the public, customers, businesses and all other stakeholders, will be made aware of your deplorable actions and the detail of how you as a company have acted in this crisis. All interested parties will be engaged by all and any means possible and I am sure that many will make decisions in light of your actions.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

While NHS workers have been saving lives and many BA staff have been volunteering to help during the current health crisis, British Airways management has used the time to dust off an old plan to strip terms and conditions from BA workers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Unite campaign projection at Heathrow\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite has tried to engage constructively with British Airways. If BA are not trying to use this crisis for corporate gain, then why has the company not agreed to come to the table to seek temporary measures until revenue returns?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 asks McCluskey.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plan to use the worst health crisis in a century to strip loyal workers of their terms and conditions is a betrayal of workers and of Britain.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are launching a major public campaign to alert BA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s customers, shareholders and partners both in Britain and internationally, of the severe\u00c2\u00a0and permanent\u00c2\u00a0damage being done at a time of national crisis.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

He concludes, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf you were honestly looking to resolve the temporary issues related to Covid-19 the following demands would be straightforward for you to agree; remove your Section 188 notice; negotiate in good faith with my Union;\u00c2\u00a0agree for any proposed changes to pay, terms and conditions to be temporary and to be returned in line with increased revenue.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI hope that you can finally step away from the precipice and think again.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Unite campaign projection onto the Houses of Parliament\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

SHARE <\/strong><\/p>\n

Twitter:<\/strong><\/em>\u00c2\u00a0@BABetrayal,\u00c2\u00a0Facebook:<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0Facebook.com\/BAbetrayal\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Compiled by Amanda Campbell @amanda_unite\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Pics by Mark Thomas\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite launched a major\u00c2\u00a0UK wide\u00c2\u00a0campaign on Friday May 22\u00c2\u00a0against British Airways\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (BA)\u00c2\u00a0opportunistic plans to use the Covid-19 pandemic to betray thousands of staff and the public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,17],"tags":[390,1295,263,160],"wps_subtitle":"Unite: \u00e2\u20ac\u0098BA using pandemic for corporate gain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21670"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21670"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21679,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21670\/revisions\/21679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}