Aviation Sector

Ian Byrne 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.