Lawmakers label British Airways 'national disgrace' over jobs

LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) - British Airways was labelled a
"national disgrace" by lawmakers for its treatment of employees
on Saturday, adding to pressure on the airline as it juggles job
cuts and new quarantine rules.

Britain's Transport Select Committee said that BA and its
parent company IAG were trying to take advantage of the
coronavirus crisis to cut 12,000 jobs and downgrade the terms
and conditions of other employees.

"It is unacceptable that a company would seek to drive this
level of change under the cover of a pandemic," Conservative
lawmaker Huw Merriman, who chairs the committee, said in a
report published on Saturday.

In response, a spokeswoman for the airline said:

"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."

BA is engaged in a battle with unions and in legal action
against the government over its quarantine policy, which
requires all international arrivals to self-isolate for 14 days.

The lawmakers said in the report that quarantine would
damage the economy and called for the government to replace it
with more targeted measures, such as travel corridors between
low-risk countries.

"It is imperative that the UK Government finds a way to get
aviation back on its feet," Merriman said.

BA, along with competitor airlines easyJet and
Ryanair, launched legal action on Friday to try to
overturn the quarantine policy.

All three have announced job cuts, but so far only BA has
been singled out for its tactics.

BA, which is burning through 20 million pounds ($25.2
million) a day and has no revenues, is preparing for what most
airlines and travel experts expect to be a smaller travel market
after in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
($1 = 0.7935 pounds)
(Reporting by Sarah Young;
Editing by Alexander Smith)