Shameful BA seeks to continue race and age discrimination
1st March 2010
Unite the union has today (Monday) denounced British Airways for
moving to overturn a recent ruling which said it must apply UK law
to its Hong Kong-based female cabin crew.
The crew's union says BA's moves are a shameful attempt to
persist with its policy of dismissing its female Hong Kong cabin
crew at 45 years of age - and can continue to discriminate against
its employees on both age and race grounds.
In January this year the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT)
upheld an Employment Tribunal 2008 ruling that the airline was
wrong to claim that the women's Hong Kong nationality excluded them
from the jurisdiction of UK employment law. Unite urged BA
then to respect that judgement and move swiftly to end the
discriminatory practices, however the airline has now said it will
contest the EAT ruling at the Court of Appeal.
Unite national officer for civil aviation Steve Turner said:
"BA's continued mistreatment of these women is shameful. We have
appealed to BA not to throw money at expensive lawyers so that they
can squirm out of their obligations, but to instead respect the
tribunal's wishes that these workers are covered by UK employment
law and as such must not be discriminated against on any grounds,
including their race or age.
"By continuing to fight this, BA is seeking to carry on treating
a group of its workers as second class. This reflects very
badly on BA as an employer but it also does profound damage to our
country's reputation overseas to have our national carrier
scrapping in court to ensure it can sack female workers at
45.
"BA should think again about the damage it is doing to its
reputation, as well as the tremendous waste incurred in throwing
skilled workers on the scrapheap when they still have years of
service to give the airline."
Unite took the case to the EAT on behalf of one stewardess,
Eliza Mak, and 16 colleagues. Eliza received her dismissal letter
from BA when she turned 45, despite having worked for the airline
since 1988.
BA dismisses its female Hong Kong crew when they turn 45 and
denies them a pension, claiming its UK employment provisions do not
apply to this workforce. Unlike their counterparts in the UK who
retire with a pension at 60, the Hong Kong crew women are forced
out of their jobs 15 years early and with only a one-off payment of
a few thousand pounds on which to support themselves and their
families.
Unite has been pushing for BA to accept that all its employees,
wherever they may reside, should be covered by the company's
employment agreements, including retirement age and pension rights.
The January EAT ruling would allow those crew dismissed at 45 by BA
to have their claims for discrimination heard in the UK courts.
ENDS
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