BA announces redundancies

Unions warn on strikes 

British Airways announced plans to make the equivalent of 1,700 staff redundant after months of talks with unions made "little progress".

The carrier also said it was imposing a two year pay freeze for cabin crew.

Unions involved in the talks with BA said the new moves risked strikes.

BA, which announced a £401m pre-tax loss for the year ending March 31, said the aviation industry was facing the worst downturn in its history.

It said in a statement that it was "currently not profitable and we expect to record a significant loss for the second consecutive year - the first time that has happened in our history".

It had to make changes to restore profitability, the carrier said.

The airline said 1,000 of its cabin crew wished to take voluntary redundancy.

A further 3,000 wanted to switch to part time working. This was the equivalent of shedding 1,700 full time jobs.

To accommodate this loss of staff, the airline said it planned to make changes in working practices.

It said it had "consulted" on these changes and would not be "altering anything that requires negotiations".

BA said the changes would come in by the end of next month.

There would be no changes in workers' contracts and no cut in the number of staff aboard planes.

BA said: "We have extremely professional cabin crew.

"However, we cannot ignore the fact that our Heathrow-based cabin crew costs are much higher than those of our Gatwick-based crew and of our competitors.    

"Without changes, we will lose more money with every month that passes.

"It is essential we make ourselves more efficient if we are to ensure our long-term survival."  

The talks between Unite and the GMB, the two unions which represent 35,000 of BA's 40,000 staff, have been going on for months.

They have included calling in ACAS, the UK arbitration service, a cooling off period and a meeting between BA's ceo Willie Walsh and the joint general secretaries of Unite, Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson.

During the period of the talks BA announced a Q1 pre-tax loss of £148m, reached a deal with pilots which it said would save it £26m a year and called on staff to work for nothing or take unpaid leave for a month.

Mr Walsh, who relinquished his £61,000 salary for July, said the carrier was fighting for survival.

A union spokesman told Reuters that the changes would alter contracts and said that strike action might happen before Christmas.

www.ba.com  www.unitetheunion.com   www.gmb.org.uk   www.acas.org.uk