BA and Project Columbus III

[HiFlyer14]

I agree with QRS that the minority will benefit at the expense of the majority.

This is the definition of redundancy taken from the Government website Business support, information and advice | Business Link

Redundancy is when you dismiss someone because:
· their workplace closes
· there is no longer a need for them to do the type of work they were employed to do, eg due to the introduction of new technology

For a redundancy to be genuine, the job that the employee does must disappear, ie you can still take on new staff but not to do the work the redundant employee was doing.

However, on Monday the manager wrote:
The only reason we can offer Part Time Contracts and Voluntary Redundancy is because we are proposing crew complement reductions and a Mixed Fleet. The two are linked.

Therefore in accordance with the government (and legal) definition these are not “redundancies” at all. They are in fact simply getting rid of one lot of (“expensive”) staff to replace them with another (cheaper) lot.

Surely the situation therefore is that if people do NOT take the VR or PT to give them the figures they need, they will have to make compulsory redundancies (and would they want to do that?). If they made compulsory redundancies they would NOT be able to recruit new staff for the new fleet. The government wouldn’t allow it, and neither I suspect would the board.

They NEED the VR and PT to get their new fleet – but they are trying to convince everyone that they are doing crew a favour! I believe that if everyone sits tight and does not take up the VR and PT, they will then be backed into a corner.


Call their bluff ....or am I seeing it too simplistically??