Change course, Willie, and keep BA the best, says Unite
14th July 2009
- Unite workers lobby BA AGM
- QEII Centre, London
- from 9am, Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
Ahead of the Annual General Meeting of British Airways in London
today (Tuesday), Unite, the biggest union in aviation, is urging
the company's CEO Willie Walsh to change course and abandon the
divisive course he has plotted for the airline's future.
In a letter to BA shareholders to be issued at the AGM, Unite
appeals for the rejection of proposed changes to the company's
operations, including the introduction of vastly inferior contracts
for new starters and the right to outsource parts of the business
to any third party at any time. Unite says that these changes
are so profound and divisive that they will seriously damage BA's
customer service and, with it, its claim to be the world's
favourite airline.
Instead, Unite is urging BA's management to embrace
worker-backed alternative pay and productivity proposals which
deliver major savings running into the hundreds of millions of
pounds for the airline through a combination of changes to working
patterns, voluntary reductions in working time, a pay freeze for
all staff and a 2.61 per cent pay cut for the 14,000 cabin crew.
Unite has brokered agreement from the workforce for these
significant changes, meaning they could be phased in with the
backing of staff in quick time, delivering rapid benefits to the
airline.
According to Steve Turner, Unite national officer for civil
aviation, the company's rejection of these plans means that the
workforce has no other option but to appeal to shareholders for
their help in securing the best agreement for the long-term future
of the company: "This is a great airline and we will not stand by
and see it run into the ground by an assault on the very things
which make it great - its staff and their dedication to their
customers.
"So we are appealing today to the CEO, stop talking this airline
down. Change course, Willie. Avoid a confrontation,
back these plans which have the agreement of your workforce and
will deliver serious and speedy cost savings to the
business.
"BA is a premier league airline with premier league staff and we
aim to keep it that way and keep it in business. We cannot
understand an approach that both talks the company down to
investors and totally alienates the workforce."
The letter from Unite to shareholders states: "BA is Britain's
iconic national flag carrier with a reputation for world-class
customer service based on delivery standards that are second to
none, and a proud, loyal and extremely dedicated workforce ... but
we firmly believe that the proposed changes cut so deep into
operations that they could eliminate any hope the airline has of
returning to its rightful position as the `world's leading
airline'.
"Despite our best efforts, our proposals have been conclusively
rejected by BA as a sensible way forward. We cannot
understand why the company would dismiss such significant savings
and productivity measures. Our fear is it can only be because
BA's management is opportunistically using the recession to force
through changes which are more far-reaching.
"Attempts to present these changes as a 'fight for survival' are
not only misguided - they are also talking down the airline of
which we are fiercely proud, destabilising the business and putting
into jeopardy the futures of 40,000 employees.
Appealing to shareholders not to allow the airline to trade down
its operations, the letter goes on: "We are not a low cost airline
and cannot compete in this market. We do not employ cheap
labour on short-term contracts with little future within the
company. We are a premier airline, a standard setter.
And it takes the best to be the best."
Unite represents 28,000 BA workers, many of whom themselves are
shareholders and will be attending the AGM. Unite, with the
GMB and Balpa, is in ongoing discussion with the company over its
proposed changes.
ENDS
Notes: Unite officers and members with shares in BA will be
outside the AGM at the Queen Elizabeth 2 Centre in Westminster,
London from 8.30am on Tuesday, July 13th.
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