A and C;
Those pilots in the UK are indeed employees of OSM, pay tax, NI, and have employment rights with OSM only, NOT with the Norwegian airline.
The Norwegian airline does not have to “dismiss” anyone, because they do not employ anyone. They simply return the rented pilot(s) or cabin crew(s) to their employer agency, OSM, without notice, reason or recourse.
Agency contracts for the provision of crews to a Norwegian airline contain the clause that “no employment relationship exists between the employee and the present lessee airline” or similar. Read the contract.
A UK Employment Tribunal will only hear disputes between an employer and an employee. Therefore, a LGW based 787 or 737 pilot having a dispute with a Norwegian airline has no legal recourse. BALPA represents pilots to their employer, OSM, not to a Norwegian airline.
I cannot fathom why Norwegian’s LGW based pilots continue to fill BALPA’s coffers with union dues for representation to a staffing agency, when the legal prerequisites exist for representation directly to the Norwegian airline. This is the option Norwegian's US and Spanish crews are pursuing via International Labor Organization guidance:
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/pub...cms_209280.pdf
But yes, I agree, there are far worse options. My dispute is with those who would misrepresent the OSM employment and the Norwegian airline “unemployment” circumstances.