Over the course of April and May, most workers at BA will not be required to work, due to the drastically reduced flying programme.
Please note: The impact of this varies across the airline, with the reductions in staffing levels in different areas ranging from zero all the way up to nearly 100%.
This has left our members feeling very worried about their job security, particularly after BA announced it was starting a consultation process over potential redundancies.
The GMB and Unite trade unions have been in talks with the company ever since about to how to handle this unprecedented situation.
Job Retention Scheme
BA wish to use the government’s Job Retention Scheme, which is a scheme that the GMB and other unions have been campaigning for.
Under the JRS scheme employers are compensated by the government towards the cost of workers who are on ‘furlough’.
Being on ‘furlough’ means not working, but retaining your employment contract, date of joining etc.
Agreement
The talks have produced an Agreement between BA and our two unions.
This will temporarily override any other arrangements that would normally apply, for example any ‘lay-off’ clauses that apply for those on new contracts.
Under its provisions anyone who is ‘furloughed’ will still be paid at 80% of their pay and 80% of normal shift pay.
By contrast with the government scheme this will not be capped.
You will still be required to pay tax and National Insurance as usual
While you’re working and not on furlough, this will be done on your normal terms & conditions.
BA have accepted that the Agreement will not confer on them any rights to permanently change people’s terms and conditions during or because of the furlough.
Pensions
To lessen the impact you will be able to divert all (or some) of both yours and BA’s BAPP pension contributions into your pay for April/May/June.
The ‘Select’ window will be opened to allow this.
Otherwise the usual pension contributions from yourself and the employer will apply based on your usual pay..
Death in Service benefit will also be calculated using your usual pay
Furlough
Any furlough period will be for a minimum of three weeks, but may be up to two months.
During this time you will not be required to work at BA, or to respond to work calls or emails, so it’s not the same as working from home.
However should demand pick up, then the company will reserve the right to call you back in before the scheduled date of return.
You will have between 3 and 10 days’ notice, depending on which area you work in.
We expect that some people will want to volunteer for Covid-19 Response schemes during their furlough, or have caring duties for vulnerable people,
So we have asked that the company shows flexibility in managing their period of furlough once the scheme is up and running.
Ensuring Fairness
We will remain in talks with BA about making sure that furlough is distributed fairly.
However we can’t at this stage rule out situations where people in similar jobs have different lengths of time off.
We will challenge BA if we feel that too many people in a particular area are on furlough and this was causing overwork for those who are remaining.
We will also point out where furlough should be more extensively used in order to better protect our members’ health.
Averting job losses
As part of this agreement, BA will agree to pause redundancy consultations, so there will be no job losses in the immediate future.
At our request BA have agreed that they will rehire any apprentices that have been released.
If BA wish to restart the redundancy consultation they will need to respect the legal 45-day minimum for the consultation.
It remains our ambition to prevent any compulsory redundancies at BA arising out of the current crisis.
The arrangements in this Agreement won’t simply ‘roll over’ beyond the end of May – BA and the unions will have to agree further measures should there continue to be a reduction in demand.
And we will reserve the right to seek compensation for losses that our members have incurred in the event that there is a substantial improvement in the company’s fortunes.
Bringing you some certainty
Although temporary, these are significant changes, so ideally we would have undergone an extensive consultation process with our members.
But your feedback over the last few weeks has told us that we all need some certainty during these uncertain times.
So after receiving the support of your senior GMB reps and the overwhelming majority of the 600+ members participating in our special Webinar we have today reached Agreement with BA.
Our colleagues from Unite have done the same pending ratification from their membership
Protecting your health
For GMB, the health and well-being of our members and their loved ones remains our top priority.
We have reported areas of concern at the highest level in the company and will continue to do so.
Please report any concerns you have and we will raise them anonymously on your behalf.
Take care,
Your GMB Negotiating Team.
Nadine Houghton, Karen Watson, Danny Faith.