Trade unions hailed criticism of British Airways’ treatment of staff by Parliament’s transport select committee.
BA is in the process of slashing 12,000 jobs and demanding remaining staff accept pay cuts and contract changes.
Len McCluskey, general secretary of the Unite union which represents BA cabin crew and other workers, said MPs were “absolutely correct to denounce” BA as “a national disgrace”.
Unite described the report, which was published today, as “damning” in its conclusion that BA is engaged in “a calculated attempt to take advantage of the pandemic to cut jobs and weaken the terms and conditions of remaining employees”.
The MPs concluded BA’s action “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”.
McCluskey said: “The transport committee’s report pulls no punches and is absolutely correct to denounce British Airway’s conduct in such unequivocal terms.”
He accused BA of “a transparent effort to generate profits out of a crisis” and said: “MPs are right to say that this must be stopped, and if the company refuses to behave responsibly it is correct that it loses its lucrative Heathrow slots.
“We welcome the committee’s calls for BA to set aside its programme of mass sackings so that proper discussions about an acceptable way out of this short-term crisis can be held.”
The report urges all UK aviation employers “not to proceed hastily with large-scale redundancies or restructuring to terms or conditions of employees” and it criticises the government for not bringing forward a strategy to help the aviation sector recover.
Unite said: “Any aviation support must not be a bailout for billionaires or concentrated on individual companies alone but focussed support for the whole sector through loans and equity stakes to protect jobs, airports, airlines and routes, as well as to assist the industry to address the climate change challenge.”
The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) welcomed the report, suggesting it “shines a light on exploitative airline management and the need for change in government policy”.
Brian Strutton, Balpa general secretary, said: “The committee agreed with Balpa’s point that airlines should not carry out redundancies or restructuring until more is known about the recovery . . . [and] is absolutely right to brand the behaviour of BA management a national disgrace.”
The GMB union also welcomed the report, noting it “confirmed BA is behaving in a deeply opportunistic way and needs to remove the threat of redundancies and get round the table for meaningful talks”.
However, the GMB said in a statement: “We think this report doesn’t go far enough. A sector specific financial package with built in protections for workers’ is the only way forward.”