Aviation Sector

Sam Tarry Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Ian Byrne (Liverpool, West Derby) (Lab)]

I congratulate Members from both sides of the House on securing such a vital debate.

The Airbus CEO has warned that this is the gravest crisis that the aerospace industry has ever known. The need for Government intervention is crucial for the survival of the sector and its 1.6 million jobs. Yesterday, I met Jamie, a trade union rep from BWT Senior Aerospace, who was taking part in a “save our jobs” rally. Jamie and the members in his factory have agreed to a four-day working week, resulting in saving at least a third of the planned redundancies in his plant. The agreement demonstrates that trade unions and their members are prepared to play their part to preserve employment during the pandemic.

I am now going to say a sentence I never, ever thought I would utter: well done Michael O’Leary and Ryanair. After announcing huge job losses in May, Ryanair entered negotiations with Unite the Union and came to an agreement on a temporary pay cut for members which took redundancies off the table. In stark contrast is the behaviour, as has been mentioned, of British Airways. BA is responding to the pandemic by firing all its 42,000 staff and rehiring those who survive, roughly 30,000, on inferior terms and conditions of employment. Some face a loss of income of between 55% and 75%. BA received £200 million from the UK Government’s coronavirus loan scheme and over £100 million in furlough payments, yet it is paying its outgoing CEO Willie Walsh a leaving bonus of over £800,000 as part of a total package worth £3.2 million.

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that that £833,000 will stick in the craw of so many decent British working people across the country and that the Government should immediately take action to look at the issue of the slots? It should also say to British Airways that it will be stripped of the right to have British livery on their planes for good unless it decides to treat its staff in a decent and proper way.

[Ian Byrne]

I fully agree with my hon. Friend. Painfully for me, Willie Walsh is a Liverpool supporter who has obviously never learned the words of our famous anthem of solidarity, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, because he has left his entire workforce to walk alone while he disappears into the sunset not fearing the prospect of using a food bank, which is where he has shamefully left many of his loyal workforce with his actions.

Is it too much to expect companies such as BA, which has billions in reserve, to show the same loyalty many of its employees have shown to it over the decades and not to take advantage of covid-19 to launch an opportunist attack on its staff’s terms and conditions? I call on the Minister to show the solidarity and empathy with the BA staff that the company has not shown and to consider the following proposals. The BA plan to fire and rehire its staff on worse terms and conditions is undeniably a fundamental attack on the rights of its workforce. It is immoral, and shamefully, it is spreading to other sectors of our economy, including British Gas, which with BA joins a list of dishonour in treating a loyal workforce appallingly.

Will the Minister pledge support for urgent legislative change, such as the Employment (Dismissal and Re-employment) Bill, a private Member’s Bill that we may consider tomorrow, to outlaw this shameful practice once and for all? I also urge the Minister to amend slot regulations and put in place much more rigorous conditions for all the legacy slots to ensure that from 2021, the UK Parliament will use its power to set additional local criteria for slot allocations that incentivises internal investment, social responsibility and connectivity. We cannot build a brighter future for our nation post-covid while we have companies acting with such blatant disregard for their employees and our communities.

Covid-19: Aviation

Sam Tarry Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Kelly Tolhurst]

My hon. Friend makes a very good suggestion. I will happily take that away and see what I can do.

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

I have received thousands of individually written emails, including from residents in Ilford South, who have collectively spent decades and decades working for British Airways. Unite the Union members have given their adult lives to making British Airways our proud national flag carrier. BA is a multibillion-pound company, with £10.7 billion in liquid and other assets if we include the parent company, International Airlines Group. Will the Minister seriously consider whether any mechanism can be brought forward by the Government to look at the allocation of slots? Those slots are the most lucrative part of the operation from which BA makes its profits. That might make IAG, Willie Walsh and all the people swinging the axe on tens of thousands of people—remember, not only all of them being sacked and then re-engaged—sit up and actually listen to how serious Members are across this House. If not, will she ask whether they will return the British flag, because they do not deserve to carry it on their planes?

[Kelly Tolhurst]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for questioning me on that particular point in the Transport Committee. I very much recognise his support for his constituents. The point I will make is that this has been a commercial decision taken by British Airways. We would absolutely expect any organisation entering into this process to do so with fairness and in the right way for its employees. I will do my best to work with colleagues across Government to deliver the support needed by those affected, and to try to our best to mitigate the job losses that are coming because of an unprecedented reduction in the number of flights that is not specific to the UK.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sam Tarry Excerpts

Thursday 30th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Chris Heaton-Harris]

The Government are spending a huge amount of money on improving the infrastructure in the north. My hon. Friend will see lots of improvements in the Bradford area and the area he represents. On HS2 and the various other bits of infrastructure, it is not an either/or: they are additional investments that we are making in infrastructure.

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

9. What recent assessment he has made of the financial effect on people living in London of delays in Crossrail. [R]

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Paul Maynard)]

No recent assessment has been made of the financial effect on individuals as a result of the delays to Crossrail.

[Sam Tarry]

I thank the Minister for his answer. I wish quickly to bring the House’s attention to my declaration of interests. With four Crossrail stations in Ilford South and the huge economic growth potential not just across Ilford but across the whole of London, does the Minister agree that it was utterly mad to get rid of the operating grant of £900 million year on year that has crippled Transport for London? In fact, this is an example not just of another failed project by the Department for Transport, but of a Government in crisis over the delivery of any infrastructure project. Will he commit to restoring that grant and restoring London—

[Mr Speaker]

Too long!