brianmay
I wouldn't place much reliance on 'seniority' or 'first in last out.'
When BA bought struggling Dan Air for £1 in the 1992 recession, they ignored the existing written agreement with BALPA for first in last out on a seniority basis. ( Balpa/Chris Darke played it softly softly because of the confliction with 3500 balpa members in BA). BA only kept those pilots who were current on B737 CFM and already based at LGW: seniority was not a factor for redundancy. Two years later, when ex Dan Air pilots forced Balpa to pursue the case in court, and the case was about to get to the steps of the industrial court re 'unfair dimissal,' there was a settlement with payments of approx £10,000 to £15000 depending on seniority and disadvantage. The cost to BA was about £4 million, small beer when you consider that BA gained £8 miliion alone by winding up the Dan Air pilot's pension fund.
It turned out that the most senior pilot in Dan-Air was prematurely retired, and the most junior was transferred to BA(EOG) and is now in BA.
I would say that BA is very big and very powerful. Balpa is ineffectual in smaller airline cases like this because it has so many BA members. The courts/tribunals can only award massive damages to sexual discrimination cases - so they are hardly much use to those who have unfair dismissal cases caused by commercial arrogance.
In short , dont rely on seniority for anything.
Last edited by fiftyfour; 17th June 2002 at 11:57.