Over the course of April and May, most workers at BA will not be required to work, due to the drastically reduced flying programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The GMB and Unite trade unions have been in talks with the company ever since about to how to handle this unprecedented situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Job Retention Scheme<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n BA wish to use the government\u2019s Job Retention Scheme, which is a scheme that the GMB and other unions have been campaigning for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the JRS scheme employers are compensated by the government towards the cost of workers who are on \u2018furlough\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being on \u2018furlough\u2019 means not working, but retaining your employment contract, date of joining etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Agreement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The talks have produced an Agreement between BA and our two unions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This will temporarily override any other arrangements that would normally apply, for example any \u2018lay-off\u2019 clauses that apply for those on new contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under its provisions anyone who is \u2018furloughed\u2019 will still be paid at 80% of their pay and 80% of normal shift pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By contrast with the government scheme this will not be capped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You will still be required to pay tax and National Insurance as usual<\/p>\n\n\n\n While you\u2019re working and not on furlough, this will be done on your normal terms & conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BA have accepted that the Agreement will not confer on them any rights to permanently change people\u2019s terms and conditions during or because of the furlough<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pensions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To lessen the impact you will be able to divert all (or some) of both yours and BA\u2019s BAPP pension contributions into your pay for April\/May\/June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u2018Select\u2019 window will be opened to allow this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Otherwise the usual pension contributions from yourself and the employer will apply based on your usual pay..<\/p>\n\n\n\n Death in Service benefit will also be calculated using your usual pay<\/p>\n\n\n\n Furlough<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Any furlough period will be for a minimum of three weeks, but may be up to two months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During this time you will not be required to work at BA, or to respond to work calls or emails, so it\u2019s not the same as working from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However should demand pick up, then the company will reserve the right to call you back in before the scheduled date of return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You will have between 3 and 10 days\u2019 notice, depending on which area you work in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We expect that some people will want to volunteer for Covid-19 Response schemes during their furlough, or have caring duties for vulnerable people,<\/p>\n\n\n\n So we have asked that the company shows flexibility in managing their period of furlough once the scheme is up and running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ensuring Fairness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We will remain in talks with BA about making sure that furlough is distributed fairly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However we can\u2019t at this stage rule out situations where people in similar jobs have different lengths of time off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We will also point out where furlough should be more extensively used in order to better protect our members\u2019 health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Averting job losses<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As part of this agreement, BA will agree to pause redundancy consultations, so there will be no job losses in the immediate future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At our request BA have agreed that they will rehire any apprentices that have been released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If BA wish to restart the redundancy consultation they will need to respect the legal 45-day minimum for the consultation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It remains our ambition to prevent any compulsory redundancies at BA arising out of the current crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The arrangements in this Agreement won\u2019t simply \u2018roll over\u2019 beyond the end of May \u2013 BA and the unions will have to agree further measures should there continue to be a reduction in demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s fortunes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bringing you some certainty<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Although temporary, these are significant changes, so ideally we would have undergone an extensive consultation process with our members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But your feedback over the last few weeks has told us that we all need some certainty during these uncertain times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our colleagues from Unite have done the same pending ratification from their membership<\/p>\n\n\n\n Protecting your health<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For GMB, the health and well-being of our members and their loved ones remains our top priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have reported areas of concern at the highest level in the company and will continue to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please report any concerns you have and we will raise them anonymously on your behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Take care,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your GMB Negotiating Team<\/strong>. Nadine Houghton, Karen Watson, Danny Faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[351],"tags":[352],"class_list":["post-2936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus","tag-coronavirus"],"yoast_head":"\n
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