Trade union Unite sent a letter with a strike warning British Airways (BA) over its plan to institute significant pay cuts and change employment terms and conditions.
Union’s letter, obtained by BBC, was addressed to BA chief executive Alex Cruz. It accused the company of arrogance and claimed the union will take “industrial action” to prevent BA from enacting the plan.
The main subject of the disagreement is BA’s employment of “fire and rehire” policy. Unite claims the airline has already planned to fire thousands of employees and then rehire them on worse conditions, effectively forcing all workers into accepting pay cuts and furloughs.
BA responded with a statement saying it is “doing everything it can to save jobs” and that union’s criticism is “disappointing” in the context of the crisis, when jobs are being lost in every industry.
IAG, BA’s parent company, announced its plans to cut 12,000 jobs back in April. Unite, which represents thousands of BA’s employees, mostly maintenance staff, engineers and cabin crew, has been battling with the company ever since.