British Airways has told a group of around 30 newly-hired cabin crew that they will be expected to take at least 15-weeks of unpaid leave because they are not eligible to be paid through a special government job retention scheme. The trainee cabin crew were hired after a cut-off date set by the British government which means they are ineligible to be paid up to 80 per cent of their wages during the Coronavirus crisis.
At the beginning of April, British Airways struck a deal with unions to furlough 80 per cent of its workforce – over 30,000 employees, after its slashed flight operations by around 90 per cent in response to travel bans, entry restrictions and a general slump in travel demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unions convinced the airline to keep all of its employees on its payroll despite an initial threat by chief executive Alex Cruz to make redundancies across nearly every department. The deal lasts through to the end of May, the same date that the job retention scheme is set to end.
But while the trainee cabin crew also benefited from the union deal by keeping hold of their jobs, they will not be paid 80 per cent of their wages through a taxpayer funded furlough scheme. British Airways has so far refused to reach into its own pocket to make up for the shortfall for just a few dozen staff.
Some of the trainees had already taken five weeks of unpaid leave and have recently been informed that they’ll need to take a further 10 weeks of unpaid leave. The Unite union is said to be urgently negotiating with British Airways to broker a deal.
Some furloughed cabin crew have been volunteering to help in healthcare on the frontline of the battle against COVID-19 after being stood down by British Airways. There is, though, concern that some of these volunteers may still be made redundant or made to take unpaid leave due to a clause in some cabin crew contracts.
It’s now widely expected that the recovery in the aviation and travel industry may be slow and painful. German flag carrier Lufthansa doesn’t expect to reach its pre-Coronavirus levels until at least 2022. Yesterday, Canadian carrier WestJet agreed to rehire over 6,000 of its flight attendants after Canada introduced a similar job retention scheme.
The airline, however, warned that the deal wouldn’t “automatically mean that they will be coming back to work as there simply may not be enough work there for them, but it will help make ends meet.”
British Airways has been contacted for comment.
