{"id":27430,"date":"2021-01-19T14:42:05","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T14:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=27430"},"modified":"2021-01-20T14:42:04","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T14:42:04","slug":"ba-heathrow-cargo-workers-in-fresh-strikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=27430","title":{"rendered":"BA Heathrow cargo workers in fresh strikes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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British Airways\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (BA) freight services at Heathrow airport are set for \u00e2\u20ac\u0098continued significant disruption\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 following the announcement of further strikes over the airline\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to fire and rehire its cargo division\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s workforce on inferior pay and conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine days of fresh strike action will begin on Friday, January 22, after talks between Unite and BA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s management collapsed due to the determination of the company \u00e2\u20ac\u0098to opportunistically strip its hardworking and loyal cargo staff of between \u00c2\u01416,000 and \u00c2\u01418,000 a year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initial round of strikes, which took place over the Christmas holidays, brought the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cargo operations at Heathrow airport to a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098grinding halt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. It is estimated that around 95 per cent of BA cargo loads coming through the airport were disrupted over the festive period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 840 BA cargo workers, predominantly based at Heathrow airport, recorded a 98 per cent yes vote in favour of strike action late last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cargo division has remained operational and profitable throughout the pandemic thanks to dedicated staff ensuring that vital goods continued to be brought into the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The union has reached agreement with BA in all the other sections of the company where it represents workers, to mitigate its proposals to slash workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 wages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Unite said the airline is refusing to do the same for its cargo division because it is it mistakenly \u00e2\u20ac\u0098counting on these last hard months of the pandemic being enough to force its cargo workers to accept the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attacks on their pay and conditions\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite assistant general secretary Howard Beckett said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBritish Airways is using the pandemic to opportunistically strip its hardworking and loyal cargo staff of between \u00c2\u01416,000 and \u00c2\u01418,000 a year \u00e2\u20ac\u201c cuts that will cause significant financial hardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur members\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 anger has been heightened by the fact that throughout the coronavirus crisis they have ensured BA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cargo division remained undisrupted. Thanks to their dedication it is the only part of the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s operations that has done so,” he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Christmas strikes brought BA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Heathrow cargo operations to a grinding halt and these new strikes will cause continued significant disruption,” Beckett continued. “BA is counting on these last hard months of the pandemic being enough to force its cargo workers to accept the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attacks on their pay and conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut the airline is woefully mistaken in its belief that its cargo workers are an easy target. It is a mistake they will continue to learn to the detriment of their bottom line. Our members will fight these changes until BA comes back with an acceptable offer.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

British Airways\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (BA) freight services at Heathrow airport are set for \u00e2\u20ac\u0098continued significant disruption\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 following the announcement of further strikes over the airline\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to fire and rehire its cargo division\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s workforce on inferior pay and conditions. Nine days of fresh strike action will begin on Friday, January 22, after talks between Unite and BA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[390,1554,1295,195],"wps_subtitle":"British Airways Heathrow cargo services face \u00e2\u20ac\u0098continued significant disruption\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 as more fire and rehire strikes announced","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27430"}],"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=27430"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27434,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27430\/revisions\/27434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}