Less Ads, More Data, More Tools Register for FREE

Pin to quick picksInternational Airlines Share News (IAG)

Share Price Information for International Airlines (IAG)

London Stock Exchange
Share Price is delayed by 15 minutes
Get Live Data
Share Price: 163.50
Bid: 163.70
Ask: 163.80
Change: -3.55 (-2.13%)
Spread: 0.10 (0.061%)
Open: 167.15
High: 167.15
Low: 162.85
Prev. Close: 167.05
IAG Live PriceLast checked at -

Watchlists are a member only feature

Login to your account

Alerts are a premium feature

Login to your account

British Airways' Treatment Of Staff Is National Disgrace, Say UK MPs

Sat, 13th Jun 2020 10:43

(Alliance News) - British Airways' treatment of its workforce during the coronavirus pandemic "is a national disgrace", UK members of Parliament claimed Friday.

A report by the Commons Transport Select Committee accused the airline of a "calculated attempt to take advantage" of the crisis by cutting up to 12,000 jobs and downgrading the terms and conditions of the bulk of its remaining employees.

The carrier, part of International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, insisted no decisions have been made and it is doing everything it can to "sustain the maximum number of jobs".

Other aviation companies have also announced thousands of redundancies, including easyJet PLC, Ryanair Holdings PLC, Virgin Atlantic, Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC and Airbus SE.

The cross-party committee of MPs acknowledged that job losses in the sector "may sadly be inevitable" due to the huge reduction in air travel as a result of Covid-19.

But it urged UK-based employers not to "proceed hastily" by making large numbers of people redundant while the government's furlough scheme is in place.

Unions told the committee they are opposed to what they described as a "fire and rehire" approach being considered by British Airways.

They stated the airline is proposing to give redundancy notices to most of its 42,000 workers and offer jobs with new terms and conditions to a proportion of them, if it cannot reach an agreement on job cuts and other changes.

The minimum 45-day consultation period for some workers ends on Monday.

BA has had discussions with pilots' union Balpa, including over the possibility of voluntary redundancies.

But the other two main unions representing its workers – Unite and GMB – are not engaging in talks.

The committee found that British Airways had received nearly GBP35 million from the government as of May 14 by furloughing 22,000 staff.

Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways' parent company IAG, told the MPs that the amount of money the airline received from the scheme in April was equivalent to less than two days of staff wages.

Unions have argued that the airline could survive even if all its planes were grounded for 12 months.

The committee's report stated: "The behaviour of British Airways and its parent company towards its employees is a national disgrace.

"It falls well below the standards we would expect from any employer, especially in light of the scale of taxpayer subsidy, at this time of national crisis."

There have been calls from some MPs for British Airways to be stripped of some of its lucrative take-off and landing slots at Heathrow as punishment for the treatment of its workforce.

Tory MP Huw Merriman, who chairs the committee, said: "We will continue to bring pressure where we can, including the airport slot allocation process.

"This wanton destruction of a loyal workforce cannot appear to go without sanction by Government, parliamentarians or paying passengers who may choose differently in future. We view it as a national disgrace."

British Airways said in a statement: "Merriman made clear several weeks ago that the Transport Select Committee's report would be 'fuelled by the kind and impassioned messages' he received, rather than the facts.

"The facts are clear. The government has no plans to help the sector restart and recover as evidenced by the introduction of the 14-day quarantine regulation.

"We find ourselves in the deepest crisis ever faced by the airline industry. A crisis not of our making but one which we must address.

"We will do everything in our power to ensure that British Airways can survive and sustain the maximum number of jobs consistent with the new reality of a changed airline industry in a severely weakened global economy."

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: "The case the company makes for sacking 12,000 and trashing the wages of those who stay on the workforce is full of holes because it is a transparent effort to generate profits out of a crisis.

"BA is fooling nobody. Never before has the country witnessed such wholesale mistreatment of a UK workforce and such brutal industrial thuggery."

The committee's report into the impact of the pandemic on the aviation sector also urged the government to abandon its 14-day quarantine rule at the end of June.

It called for a "more targeted and nuanced border control policy", allowing people travelling from countries where the infection rate of Covid-19 is relatively low to enter the UK on a less restrictive basis.

A government spokesman said: "We continue to work at speed to help protect the long-term future of the sector, however we will always put public health first, and we must not risk an extremely damaging second wave of the virus."

By Neil Lancefield, PA Transport Correspondent

source: PA

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.

More News
9 Oct 2023 15:40

London close: Stocks slip into red on growing Middle East concerns

(Sharecast News) - London's financial markets closed in the red on Monday, relinquishing earlier gains as geopolitical tensions emanating from the Israel-Gaza conflict hit global sentiment.

Read more
9 Oct 2023 08:54

LONDON BROKER RATINGS: Numis raises Rotork and cuts Bodycote

(Alliance News) - The following London-listed shares received analyst recommendations Monday morning:

Read more
8 Oct 2023 14:22

Major airlines cancel dozens of flights to Tel Aviv amid Hamas attack

(Alliance News) - Major airlines have cancelled dozens of flights to Tel Aviv this weekend after the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise large-scale attack against Israel.

Read more
6 Oct 2023 10:28

Datalex and Aer Lingus ink digital transformation platform deal

(Alliance News) - Datalex PLC on Friday said it will partner with Aer Lingus Ltd to offer the airline a new digital transformation platform.

Read more
5 Oct 2023 12:59

BA nearing long-term pay deal to avert pilots' strike - report

(Sharecast News) - British Airways is reportedly on the of a brink of a long-term pay deal with its pilots aimed at removing the renewed threat of strike action until at least 2027.

Read more
4 Oct 2023 09:52

LONDON BROKER RATINGS: Goldman likes Relx; Jefferies likes Aviva

(Alliance News) - The following London-listed shares received analyst recommendations Wednesday morning and Tuesday:

Read more
3 Oct 2023 10:55

Aurrigo inks deal with British Airways parent IAG for aviation tech

(Alliance News) - Aurrigo International PLC on Tuesday said that it has signed a formal partnership agreement with British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group SA for the deployment and demonstration of Aurrigo's autonomous aviation solutions within the UK.

Read more
28 Sep 2023 17:28

IAG, Lufthansa and Air France KLM keen on stake in Portugal's TAP

(Alliance News) - The Portuguese government on Thursday opened the sale of a majority stake in flag carrier TAP, with Deutsche Lufthansa AG quickly expressing interest and other European rivals also expected to be keen. 

Read more
19 Sep 2023 09:46

LONDON BROKER RATINGS: HSBC cuts NatWest; Stifel likes Computacenter

(Alliance News) - The following London-listed shares received analyst recommendations Tuesday morning:

Read more
12 Sep 2023 05:58

UK govt, British Airways face claim over Kuwait hostage crisis

(Alliance News) - Passengers and crew members of a British Airways flight who were taken hostage in Kuwait in 1990 are intending to take legal action against the British government and the airline, a law firm said Tuesday. 

Read more
8 Sep 2023 09:11

UK competition regulator proposes Heathrow charges are reconsidered

(Alliance News) - The competition regulator has provisionally found that some errors were made in a decision on how much Heathrow Airport can charge airlines.

Read more
8 Sep 2023 07:56

Competition regulator mostly backs lower airline price caps at Heathrow

(Sharecast News) - The UK competition regulator has said that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) made some errors in determining the lower price cap that Heathrow should charge airlines, but said that most of its calculations had been correct.

Read more
30 Aug 2023 17:15

FTSE 100 gains for sixth day on homebuilders' boost

Homebuilders up 1.8%

*

Read more
30 Aug 2023 14:29

Airlines count cost of UK traffic control failure

(Alliance News) - The worst disruption to UK air traffic control in almost a decade following a technical fault risks costing carriers around GBP100 million, the head of global airline body IATA estimated Wednesday.

Read more
30 Aug 2023 09:53

UK air traffic control meltdown fault won't happen again - NATS

Head of air traffic control provider says issue fixed

*

Read more

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.

Quickpicks are a member only feature

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.