Have been away for a few days so only just catching up with this thread but, in the meantime, this is from the BALPA web-site:
A British Airways pilot denied 50% part-time working so that she can look after her one year old daughter has been forced to take the airline to an Employment Tribunal. Jessica Starmer, 26, is being supported by BALPA (the British Airline Pilots’ Association) and will claim that BA’s denial of 50% part-time working amounts to indirect sex discrimination as women pilots are more likely to need to work part-time than their male colleagues. The hearing starts at Watford Employment Tribunal today, Monday 10 January 2005.
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Jessica Starmer said: ‘Having to appear at an Employment Tribunal was the last thing on my mind when I started my dream job as a British Airways pilot nearly four years ago. Although I love every minute flying for BA, I’m also a working mum and need to work part-time to care for Beth, my one year old daughter. Being a professional airline pilot and a mother should in no way be incompatible and it would certainly be a personal tragedy for me and my family if I was forced to leave British Airways.’
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Till now Beth has been cared for by relatives when Jessica has been flying (though Jessica herself used up her holiday periods to be at home with her).
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Jim McAuslan, BALPA General Secretary, said: ‘It is totally unacceptable for British Airways or any other airline to put pressure on a pilot to leave a good professional job just because they also happen to have childcare responsibilities.
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‘BALPA is working to interest many more young women in becoming pilots. Although there are still fewer than 500 women pilots flying commercial aircraft in the UK, alongside some 11,000 men, the flight crew workforce, like most other professions, is changing in complexion. As the pilot workforce becomes more diverse, with more women entering the profession, a new range of employment practices is required including part-time working. We are stunned that British Airways hasn’t woken up to this fact._
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‘However, this Tribunal case is not just about helping working mothers who need to work part-time at the beginning or middle of their careers. More and more of our members are also likely to want to work part-time towards the end of their careers as part of flexible retirement arrangements.’
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About Jessica:
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After graduating from Oxford University in 1999 with a first class honours degree Jessica Starmer started an 18 month BA-sponsored pilot training course. She then joined BA as a pilot in May 2001.
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Before joining BA Jessica flew gliders for 10 years and spent three years as a gliding instructor. She was a medal winner in a national junior gliding competition and was selected for the British Gliding Association’s national women’s team.
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In 2002 Jessica attended a Royal Garden Party for young achievers and met the Queen. In the same year she received BA’s award for excellence for her part in handling an engine failure on a flight from Birmingham to Edinburgh.
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Jessica lives near Wareham, Dorset, with her husband Simon (also a BA pilot) and her daughter Beth.
It is rumoured that on staff that there are at least 5 other women waiting to see the outcome of this case as they too wish to go part time, (also mentioned in the video about the case on
THIS page). I think the thing that shocks me most about all of this is that BA have allowed it to go so far. As someone above said, from a publicity and staff morale point of view, it would have been better to come to a quiet deal, which makes me suspect that the Bean-Counters are the sole driving force behind this one. . . .
BH