Coronavirus: British Airways boss tells staff jobs will go (BBC News)

Coronavirus: British Airways boss tells staff jobs will go (BBC News)

Mar 14, 2020 | COVID

BBC NEWS////////////
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British Airways is to ground flights ‘like never before’ and lay off staff in response to the coronavirus.

In a memo to staff titled “The Survival of British Airways”, boss Alex Cruz warned that job cuts could be “short term, perhaps long term”.

The airline industry was facing a “crisis of global proportions” that was worse than that caused by the SARS virus or 9/11.

Meanwhile, Ryanair told staff they may be forced to take leave from Monday.

An internal memo to Ryanair staff, seen by the BBC, said crew may be allocated to take unpaid leave due to canceled flights and schedule changes.

BA boss Mr Cruz said: “We can no longer sustain our current level of employment and jobs would be lost – perhaps for a short term, perhaps longer term.”

The airline is in talks with unions but gave no further details about the scale of the likely job losses in the video message transcript seen by the BBC.

The airline boss said that British Airways, which is owned by FTSE 100 company IAG, was suspending routes and parking planes in a way they had “never had to do before”.

British Airways would “continue to do our best for customers and offer them as much flexibility as we can”, Mr Cruz said in the video.

‘Don’t underestimate this’

Although Mr Cruz said the British flag carrier airline had a strong balance sheet and was financially resilient, he told staff “not to underestimate the seriousness of this for our company”.

BA and other carriers’ revenues have been hit by the coronavirus response as governments close borders, companies ban lucrative business travel, conferences and events are cancelled and demand for leisure travel slumps.

IAG shares bounced on Friday after the global share market rout on Thursday. They closed up 4.8% to 350p per share, but were trading higher before news of the mass groundings broke.

The International Air Transport Association warned on Friday that global airline revenue losses would be “probably above” the figure of $113bn (£90bn) that it estimated a week ago, before the Trump administration’s announcement of US travel curbs on passengers from much of continental Europe.

Earlier this month, IAG said flight suspensions to China and cancellations on Italian routes would affect how many passengers it carried this year.

Major US airlines are in talks with the government there over economic relief, as traveler demand plummets.

“The speed of the demand fall-off is unlike anything we’ve seen,” Delta chief executive Ed Bastian said on Friday in a note to staff, which also said the firm would cut flights by 40% over the next few months, ground 300 aircraft and reduce spending by $2bn.

On Thursday, Norwegian Air said it was set to cancel 4,000 flights and temporarily lay off about half of its staff because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The increase in flight cancellations comes after the European Union said it would suspend until the end of June a “use it or lose it” law that requires airlines to use their allocated runway slots or risk losing the lucrative asset.

The law had led to so-called “ghost flights” where airlines were flying near-empty planes in order to keep their slots at airports.

The pilot’s union Balpa on Friday called for greater government support for the aviation industry and complained that this week’s Budget had not included a cut to Air Passenger Duty (APD) as the industry had lobbied for.

BALPA general secretary, Brian Strutton, said: “Removing APD is just one step that could help airlines make it through their financial woes in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The reality is, with such a loss in forward bookings for the summer – the time when airlines make all their profit – the airlines have had to look at ways to save money to keep the companies afloat”.

All American Mechanic and Related, Stores, and Fleet Service Employees Represented by the TWU/IAM Associations

All American Mechanic and Related, Stores, and Fleet Service Employees Represented by the TWU/IAM Associations

Feb 13, 2017 | Home | 0 comments

All American Mechanic and Related, Stores, and Fleet Service Employees Represented by the TWU/IAM Associations

June 27, 2016

I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself to all of you. I am Joshua M. Javits, a full-time professional mediator and arbitrator. I am a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators, a roster arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and a former Chairman and Member of the National Mediation Board. By agreement between American Airlines and the TWU/IAM Associations representing Mechanic and Related, Stores, and Fleet Service Employees, I was appointed as a Neutral to assist the parties in the seniority integration process resulting from the merger of American Airlines and US Airways.

According to federal law, known as the McCaskill-Bond Amendment, in airline mergers the integration of seniority must be fair and equitable. The law further provides that when the employees of a craft and class at the two merging carriers have the same representative, in this case the TWU/IAM Associations, the merger policy of the representative shall be applied. Here, the parties have already established the basic principles to guide this seniority integration in their April 24, 2013 Agreement Regarding Seniority List Integration, specifically that the primary basis for seniority integration will be the date of entry into an employee’s basic classification. In May 2016, the parties further agreed upon a procedure to implement their 2013 Agreement and appointed me to act as the Neutral in that process.

The seniority integration process agreed to is less formal and more cooperative than a standard arbitration proceeding and will involve several phases.

  1. Initially, I will engage in a fact-finding process in order to understand employees’ current seniority arrangements and identify potential issues impacting the integration of seniority lists. As part of this process, I have already requested certain background information from the Company. In addition, on June 21, 2016, I met in Washington, DC with the Associations’ seniority integration committees and joint collective bargaining teams, which include members from both pre-merger Carriers. These were very productive sessions and I appreciate the participants’ insights regarding potential issues and areas of concern.
  2. Also, as part of the fact-finding process, I will consider any written comments or information regarding the integration of seniority lists that any employee represented by the TWU/IAM Associations wishes to submit. Comments must include: employee name, employee number, job title, and station. Comments must be sent by regular mail or email to the following so they are received no later than July 31, 2016:

Attn: Neutral Joshua M. Javits

c/o Guerrieri, Clayman, Bartos & Parcelli, P.C.
1900 M Street, N.W., Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036

JavitsSeniority@geclaw.com

  1. Once the fact-finding process is complete, I intend to engage further with the Associations’ seniority committees in order to reach consensus on the integration of lists to the fullest extent possible.
  2. At the conclusion of this fact-finding andmediation process, I will issue a Report and Recommendations regarding the integration of seniority, as well as proposed integrated lists. The Report and the proposed lists will be promptly published to the membership for review.
  3. Following the publication of the proposed lists, affected employees will have 45 days to file in writing any protest they may have regarding their placement on the list. Details regarding how to file a protest will be provided in conjunction with the publication of the proposed lists.
  4. I will consider all timely filed protests and issue a final and binding determination with respect to each. After deciding all protests, I will issue final integrated seniority lists, incorporating any necessary adjustments or corrections in light of my protest determinations. It is intended that the final lists will issue by December 1, 2016. However, the Company has agreed that it will not implement the final lists until new joint collective bargaining agreements have been reached and ratified.

Throughout this process, I will be assisted by the Washington, DC law firm of Guerrieri, Clayman, Bartos & Parcelli, P.C., which has extensive experience in airline seniority matters. I look forward to assisting the parties in achieving a fair and equitable seniority integration.