Originally Posted by
dirk85
I was speaking with a Balpa rep not long time ago and in the main offices they are terrified that someone one day will challenge the seniority system is certain airlines, because they know the chances are high it would not hold up in court.
And they have been afraid of it for a long time. Rumour has it (because I wasn’t personally involved) that when Bmi baby made people redundant in 2008 ignoring the seniority list and the terms of the contract that all the pilots had signed Balpa refused to give legal aid to anyone wanting to challenge the company after the redundancies because they didn’t think they would win, and losing would set a precedent.
Under UK employment law it is a position which has to be no longer necessary. Let’s say, for example, that a Big airline wanted to shut its operation at airport G. It couldn’t make junior pilots at Airport H redundant and put more senior pilots from airport G into those positions as that would be against UK law. The only people it could make redundant would be the pilots at airport G whose positions no longer existed.
By all means (in the UK) have your seniority list for fleet changes, base changes, upgrades, training appointments etc etc but don’t expect seniority alone to protect you against redundancy. This is in the UK, and irrelevant to the USA, Europe, Australia or anywhere else.