
The Socialist 6 May 2020
Bosses push to lift lockdown - they only care about profits

Bosses push to lift lockdown - they only care about profits
Bail out the real wealth creators, not the rich
Homes needed to end overcrowding
Homeless left on streets during pandemic
Pay full fees for virtual courses? - No way!
Your donations can keep the Socialist going
Test and trace: workers need a real plan
Tories using pandemic to shift lab testing out of NHS
Nationalise British Airways to stop 12,000 redundancies
Postal workers force Royal Mail back
No increase in transport capacity without adequate safety precautions for workers and passengers
Unsafe Workplace? "It's up to you" PCS tells reps and members
Further protests in Ireland against Debenhams closures - UK fightback needed
Rolls Royce threatens 8,000 job losses
EDF Energy workers furloughed on 100% pay
India: Fighting the curse of capitalism and coronavirus
US: Trump's public health cuts have condemned thousands worldwide
Trump puts profit before safety (again)
The Tyneside apprentices' strike during WW2
Going viral: Socialist comments and letters on the corona crisis
TV Review BBC Panorama: PPE shortage - how many lives will be lost?
PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT
020 8988 8777

Link to this page: https://secure.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1085/30730
![]() | |||
Home | The Socialist 6 May 2020 | Join the Socialist Party
Subscribe | Donate | Audio | PDF | ebook
Nationalise British Airways to stop 12,000 redundancies
British Airways worker
British Airways' announcement of 12,000 redundancies represents an opportunistic attack on its workforce. The British Airways/International Airline Group board are firm believers in the neoliberal view of never allowing a crisis to be wasted.
In addition to the redundancies, the airline is threatening to dismiss the whole workforce and 'invite' up to 75% of its employees to reapply, accepting new contracts which have worse pay and poorer terms and conditions.
To be clear, this is not a move from the company driven by economic necessity - International Airline Group is sitting on a cash pile and credit lines to the tune of £10 billion plus. Those cash reserves could easily see the company through to 2022.
International Airline Group has accepted a government bailout in Spain, but campaigns for no industry help in the UK. The company clearly hopes its competitors will go to the wall and it will emerge from this crisis with a lower cost base, ensuring monopolistic profits for its shareholders.
The airline has shown no empathy for its workforce in a time of pandemic. It insisted its frontline employees continued to work without PPE, resulting in the tragic death of flying crew and ground staff.
It equally shows no feeling for the present situation, where every family is struggling with anxiety and loss due to the pandemic. Although this looks like a devastating announcement, and individual workers sitting at home furloughed, and isolated are unable to feel their collective strength, resistance to all these proposals is possible.
This would be the first time in the airline's history that the management attempted to take on the whole workforce. As long as we act collectively and negotiate at a national level the workforce will see off this challenge. It is not a simple matter to dismiss everybody and reconstitute a new airline without the cooperation of the workforce.
Given that half the workforce is furloughed, it shows how many sections are still required to operate in order to maintain the grounded fleet. Customer relations are still dealing with millions of customer requests for refunds or rebookings; and engineering is still 'mothballing' the planes which have to be regularly checked in order to keep their airworthiness.
Although British Airways' operation has been consolidated into Heathrow Terminal 5, we are still flying 20 to 30 flights a day which require all the operational functions. In addition, there are unprecedented levels of cargo it is trying to get onto a limited schedule. Postal bags, for instance, have been going into overhead lockers. There is considerable IT infrastructure that needs to be supported while we are flying at least one aircraft.
Unite and the GMB unions are launching a legal challenge. British Airways is taking part in the job retention scheme, known as furloughing, while it announces, with considerable brass neck its intention to implement redundancies. Part of the furloughing arrangement is that workers are not contacted by their employer. This means it would be impossible to have meaningful consultation, which breaks the law.
British Airways would like the different sections of its workforce - cabin crew, pilots, ground services, engineering and head office - to negotiate separately on the company's proposals. This must not happen. We need to engage collectively at a national level, not allowing any section to be picked off, and demand that all UK operations are nationalised to save jobs.
The anger of the workforce must now be channelled into a determination to resist this brutal smash and grab on employees pay, and terms and conditions. Together we can resist and win.
In this issue
What we think
Bosses push to lift lockdown - they only care about profits
Coronavirus news
Bail out the real wealth creators, not the rich
Homes needed to end overcrowding
Homeless left on streets during pandemic
Pay full fees for virtual courses? - No way!
Your donations can keep the Socialist going
Test and trace
Test and trace: workers need a real plan
Tories using pandemic to shift lab testing out of NHS
Workplace news
Nationalise British Airways to stop 12,000 redundancies
Postal workers force Royal Mail back
No increase in transport capacity without adequate safety precautions for workers and passengers
Unsafe Workplace? "It's up to you" PCS tells reps and members
Further protests in Ireland against Debenhams closures - UK fightback needed
Rolls Royce threatens 8,000 job losses
EDF Energy workers furloughed on 100% pay
International news
India: Fighting the curse of capitalism and coronavirus
US: Trump's public health cuts have condemned thousands worldwide
Trump puts profit before safety (again)
Lessons from history
The Tyneside apprentices' strike during WW2
Obituary
Readers' opinion
Going viral: Socialist comments and letters on the corona crisis
TV Review BBC Panorama: PPE shortage - how many lives will be lost?
Related links:
Trade unions must fight to put their stamp on events
GE Aviation workers march to save jobs
Bail out the real wealth creators, not the rich
Nationalise the railways: For an integrated public transport system
Summer of airline industry strikes against low pay and worsening conditions
Arcadia and Debenhams closures: Nationalise to save jobs and pensions
Fight Tata Steel jobs threat - nationalise now!
'FinCEN Files' expose rampant financial corruption: nationalise the banks!
Nationalise Tata Steel to save jobs
University teaching moves online in England
Christmas redundancy shock at L&Q housing association
Openreach and EE: Massive vote for action