Pilots back Bill to ban ‘fire and re-hire’ tactic
Pilots are supporting a Bill in the House of Commons that would ban the controversial practice of firing and rehiring employees.
BALPA, the pilots union, claims British Airways is threatening to ‘fire and rehire’ staff who refuse to accept less favourable employment terms.
BA announced in April that it was planning to make 12,000 staff redundant and unions claim remaining cabin crew have been told to take pay cuts of up to 55%.
The Bill introduced by Gavin Newlands, SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, has cross-party support,
BALPA said: "Fire and rehire is a legal but appalling industrial relations practice where companies essentially blackmail their employees to accept inferior terms and conditions or else threaten to fire and then rehire them, often on even worse terms.
"This is exactly what British Airways threatened its cabin crew workforce with, and recently its pilots too."
BALPA general secretary Brian Strutton added: "It is absolutely right that this practice of essentially legalised blackmail should be outlawed in the UK and we welcome Gavin Newlands’ work on this.
"We’ve heard warm words from Government Ministers and even the Prime Minister on the situation in BA – here is some action they could take."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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