Transport secretary must investigate standards on strike-busting BA
planes
17th March 2010
Unite the union has written to Lord Adonis, transport secretary,
to ask that he investigates British Airways' plans to deploy a
strike-breaking crew. The union says the minister must take
all steps to ensure that the reputation of UK aviation is not
damaged by BA's determination to deploy under-trained novices as
cabin crew during the strikes which loom this weekend.
Unite is calling on the minister to put two essential questions
to the airline. Firstly, BA must demonstrate to him
that they have taken all steps to ensure that those who are working
on the planes have cleared stringent UK national security checks,
checks which normally take three months to process. Secondly,
BA must show that strike-breaking crew have been vetted in
accordance with the security requirements of BA's destination
countries, and that these countries have been properly advised of
BA's intention to use fast-tracked stand-ins. Unite also
wants these assurances to be placed in the public domain so that
passengers can be confident that standards have not been
compromised.
The union has approached the minister following the failure of
Transec, the government body responsible for transport security, to
respond to Unite's letter of concern sent in January this year when
BA first announced its plans to train strike-breakers. Unite
had asked Transec to check that BA was complying with all safety
and security checks.
Unite's concerns about BA's plans deepened when it emerged that
strike-breaking crew would board as passengers only to present
themselves as crew when the plane was in the air. On landing,
they would then resume passenger status to clear immigration.
It is thought that this plan would allow the strike-breakers to
bypass all working visa requirements and vetting procedures. Unite
says that if this is not the case, then BA must make that clear to
the minister.
Unite also believes that the secretary of state must be assured
that those embassies which issue working visas, such as the US
Embassy, have been fully informed by BA of their intentions, and be
satisfied that the airline is complying with their criteria for
crew who pass through their airports.
The letter to the secretary of state says:
"This sector (aviation) is
of national importance, and has rightly been given significant
support by your government. Unite is now writing formally to
you request an urgent investigation by your department into the
rushing through of stand-in cabin crew and ask that you take all
steps to assure yourself, the government and the travelling public
that, during this dispute, corners have not been cut in the
standards which govern our aviation industry.
“Irrespective of the views
ministers may hold on the nature of this dispute, we know that your
first concern is to ensure that the travelling public does not
suffer. Therefore, we are urging you as secretary of state
for transport to demand that BA responds to you urgently on these
two principal matters of concern, giving you total assurance that
no corners are being cut with passenger safety and security in this
country or in any of the BA designation countries. We also
urge that these reponses are placed in the public domain to
encourage wider public assurance.
“BA's desire to break a
lawful dispute - twice voted for by our members, so strongly do
they feel about their futures - must not lead to the dilution of
long-standing aviation standards. We therefore ask that your
department urgently reviews the arrangements BA has put in place in
respect of the above matters and takes all necessary steps to give
the public confidence that standards in this important industry
will be safeguarded."
Unite also repeats its serious concerns over the quality of
training which can inevitably be provided to a fast-tracked crew -
and its worries that BA's plans to drop standards during the strike
could set a dangerous precedent for aviation.
"Experienced, professional cabin crew save
lives, a fact that has been proven on many occasions whether in
times of aircraft emergency or in relation to individual passengers
suffering a serious ill health emergency, such as in New York just
last week. ‘Volunteer’ crews simply will not have the
expertise to deliver such care, placing the travelling public at
serious risk should an incident occur, and setting a dangerous
precedent for tolerating lower standards which other airlines may
seek to follow.
"Deservedly, UK aviation has a world-wide
reputation for high standards in both it operations and the calibre
of people employed, and BA in particular embodies these
values. It would be hugely damaging for our global reputation
were these qualities to be sacrificed by one company's pursuance of
a conflict and not negotiation"
Unite has repeatedly called upon BA to re-table the offer to
crew that it withdrew last week. In response, BA has said
that if it does re-table any offer, it will be a poorer one, making
strikes this weekend inevitable.
ENDS.
Notes: the full text of the letter sent to Lord Adonis is
as follows:
Dear Secretary of State
FOR YOUR URGENT ATTENTION: British Airways Dispute and Volunteer
Cabin Crew
In a bid to resolve the long-running dispute between BA and its
cabin crew, Unite is doing all in its power to persuade British
Airways to re-table the offer in withdrew last week and to allow
our members a voice on their future.
However, Unite has grave concerns that BA's threat to break any
lawful strike by deploying up to 1000 fast-tracked, under-trained
volunteers as crew during a dispute places not just our national
carrier's reputation for quality at risk, but will jeopardise the
UK's reputation as a place where the standards governing air
passenger transport are respected and upheld.
In January this year, Unite wrote to Transec, the transport
security contingencies directorate, detailing specific concerns we
have in relation to the training and vetting of volunteer crew by
BA, set to be deployed this weekend. To date Unite has had no
response from the directorate to this letter, which in itself is
concerning.
This sector is clearly of national importance, and has rightly
been given significant support by your government. Given
recent developments, Unite is now writing formally to you request
an urgent investigation by your department into the rushing through
of stand-in cabin crew and ask that you take all steps to assure
yourself, the government and the travelling public that, during
this dispute, corners have not been cut in the standards which
govern our aviation industry.
Setting aside our obvious concerns that paying passengers will
be in the care of an under-trained crew, reliant on them for their
in-air safety and well-being, there are two clear issues of concern
with the volunteer programme: first, the compliance of all
volunteers with UK security checks; and secondly, BA's duty to
other national governments to comply with their vetting
laws.
Irrespective of the views Ministers may hold on the nature of
this dispute, we know that your first concern is to ensure that the
travelling public does not suffer. Therefore, we are urging
you as Secretary of State for Transport to demand that BA responds
to you urgently on these two principal matters of concern, giving
you total assurance that no corners are being cut with passenger
safety and security in this country or in any of the BA designation
countries. We also urge that these Reponses are placed in the
public domain to encourage wider public assurance.
Unite's critical questions are:
1. What steps has BA taken to comply with all security and
record checks required by those who are to work
"airside"?
You will be aware that last week a potential BA ‘volunteer crew
member’ was remanded in custody on charges relating to an alleged
terrorist plot which pivoted around his role as a ‘volunteer’ crew
during any dispute.
You will also be aware that Criminal Records Checks (CRCs) are
conducted on potential cabin crew but these are only able to
identify those who already have a criminal record on file in the
United Kingdom. There is no way of obtaining such information on
those from overseas or indeed UK residents who may have committed
offences overseas, which could impact on their ability to access
other countries to work, such as the United States, when deployed
as strike-breaking cabin crew.
2. Has British Airways taken all steps to comply with the
visa and vetting requirements of the national governments of BA
destinations?
British Airways says that they are able to employ ‘volunteer’
crew on from across the airline as well as to ‘charter’ crewed
aircraft to provide BA services from leasing companies. Further, it
is our understanding that many of these ‘volunteers’ we be
travelling as paying passengers not ‘crew’ and then changing and
working on-board, thereby avoiding working visas where required and
the necessary vetting procedures of other national
governments. If this is the case, this is clearly a deception
of these national governments. We urge you to clear this
matter up urgently.
Many of BA's key routes are into the USA, and the airline has
pledged to run the New York route during any strike. Our
understanding is that the visas required to enter US airports as
crew are only issued by the US Embassy but we ask that you now
check that this Embassy been fully informed by BA of their
intentions and are they satisfied that BA is complying with their
criteria for those crew who will pass through US airports as
workers?
Finally, we have serious concerns over the training being
provided to ‘volunteers’ given the central role of crew in
providing a safe and secure environment on-board aircraft.
Experienced, professional cabin crew save lives, a fact that has
been proven on many occasions whether in times of aircraft
emergency or in relation to individual passengers suffering a
serious ill health emergency, such as in New York just last
week. ‘Volunteer’ crews simply will not have the expertise to
deliver such care, placing the travelling public at serious risk
should an incident occur, and setting a dangerous precedent for
tolerating lower standards which other airlines may seek to
follow.
Deservedly, UK aviation has a world-wide reputation for high
standards in both it operations and the calibre of people employed,
and BA in particular embodies these values. It would be
hugely damaging for our global reputation were these qualities to
be sacrificed by one company's pursuance of a conflict and not
negotiation.
BA's desire to break a lawful dispute - twice voted for by our
members, so strongly do they feel about their futures - must not
lead to the dilution of long-standing aviation standards. We
therefore ask that your Department urgently reviews the
arrangements BA has put in place in respect of the above matters
and takes all necessary steps to give the public confidence that
standards in this important industry will be safeguarded.
I look forward to your speedy reply.
Yours sincerely
Steve Turner
National Officer – Civil Air Transport
Copy: Paul Clark MP Aviation Minister, Louise Ellman Chair
Transport Select Committee, CAA, FAA
