{"id":22843,"date":"2020-07-21T16:39:45","date_gmt":"2020-07-21T15:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=22843"},"modified":"2020-07-21T16:39:45","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T15:39:45","slug":"easyjet-staff-losing-faith-in-airline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=22843","title":{"rendered":"easyJet staff ‘losing faith’ in airline"},"content":{"rendered":"
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easyJet staff will hold socially distanced demonstrations this week at Newcastle, Southend and Stansted airports over the firm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plans to close its operations at those locations and shed 1,290 cabin crew jobs nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protests \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which will take place at 10.30am in Newcastle on Wednesday (July 22), Southend on Thursday (July 23) and Stansted on Friday (July 24) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c come after staff voted in favour of a no confidence ballot in easyJet chief operating officer (COO) Peter Bellew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ballot of more than 3,000 Unite cabin crew members at the airline was 99.32 per cent in favour of the no confidence motion. The pilot\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s union BALPA conducted a similar ballot which also returned a near unanimous vote of no confidence in Mr Bellew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite members are angry that while their jobs and incomes at the airline are under attack, easyJet paid \u00c2\u0141174m in dividends to shareholders at the start of the Covid-19 crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has also secured a government funded load of \u00c2\u0141600 million yet is pressing on with a large-scale cuts and closure programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the proposed job losses and base closures, Unite members are angry at how Mr Bellew, who has recently arrived at easyJet from Ryanair has misjudged the start of the Covid-19 crisis by criticising the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhype going on around the virus\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and encouraging \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbusiness as usual\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They has also criticised how he has attempted a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098smash and grab\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 of cabin crew pay, terms and conditions and has tried to bypass easyJet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recognised trade unions Unite and pilots\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 union BALPA, by proposing \u00e2\u20ac\u015bCoronavirus Co-operation agreements\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 directly to staff, who categorically rejected them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite regional officer Lindsey Olliver said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSince Mr Bellew\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arrival at easyJet our members have become increasingly concerned by his actions. They genuinely fear for the longevity and reputation of easyJet with Mr Bellew in his current position. The airline\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s crew wear their uniforms with pride, but they are losing faith in the company and feel undervalued and disrespected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDuring the pandemic easyJet has made liberal use of taxpayer funded support through the job retention scheme and a \u00c2\u0141600m loan as well as paying \u00c2\u0141174m in shareholder dividends,” she added. “These redundancies will cause misery, add to the economic upheaval the country is experiencing and hurt regional connectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015beasyJet must halt these closures and redundancies but the government also has its part to play. It is absolutely essential that the job retention scheme is extended for the aviation sector, which has been one of the industries worst hit by the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ongoing failure to provide such sector specific support is resulting in huge job losses throughout the industry and is threatening the viability of airlines and airports alike. It is directly responsible for encouraging airlines to make drastic cuts as a permanent solution to a temporary problem,” Olliver went on to say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe aviation industry is essential to the future prosperity of the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s economy and it is vital that the government steps up to the plate and provides specific support in line with other nations.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Ryan Fletcher<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

easyJet staff will hold socially distanced demonstrations this week at Newcastle, Southend and Stansted airports over the firm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plans to close its operations at those locations and shed 1,290 cabin crew jobs nationwide. The protests \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which will take place at 10.30am in Newcastle on Wednesday (July 22), Southend on Thursday (July 23) and Stansted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,1],"tags":[511,1295,361],"wps_subtitle":"easyJet staff to stage airport demonstrations after voting no confidence in COO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22843"}],"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=22843"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22847,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22843\/revisions\/22847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}