One down one to go for British Airways
British Airways has today announced a possible agreement with the GMB and Unite unions which could avert industrial action amongst ground staff at Heathrow Airport. The agreement, which will be voted upon today, could see a voluntary reduction of the 3000 ground staff numbers with a number in the region of 500 suggested by the unions. Those who leave voluntarily will receive enhanced severance packages with possible redeployment options.
However, the long-running dispute between the Unite union and the British Airways management regarding cabin crew members is yet to be resolved and is fast becoming one of the most expensive episodes of industrial action in the private sector. The two parties have been close to agreement on a number of occasions although it seems as though "small print" issues may well have blown these earlier discussions out of the water.
British Airways is fire fighting on a number of fronts at the moment with a significant deficit in the company's pension fund causing financial problems as well as the ongoing industrial action by cabin crew. Many believe that inevitably Willie Walsh will be offered up as some form of sacrificial lamb in order to end the dispute although this may be some time off.
Share this..
Related stories
Wages set to rise at the same rate as benefits
The work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith believes benefits should no longer automatically increase at the same rate as inflation. He stated that it is unreasonable for wages to rise at a slower rate than benefits. There will be a 3 year cap at 1% on most working-age benefits and tax credits beginning 2012/14. The cap is below the level that cost of living is expected to rise to. Child...
Read MoreMinisters consider employment and support allowance cuts
30/10/2014 Internal documents found by the BBC have shown that ministers are considering severely cutting the main Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) sickness benefit. Claimants who are judged to be suitable for work with support may only receive 50p a week above the current Job Seekers Allowance (JSA). This is a drastic cut, as current recipients of ESA get £30 a week more than that....
Read MoreWhy should UK consumers suffer quantitative easing?
As the Bank of England sits on the verge of introducing one of the more radical economic policies available, i.e. quantitative easing, there are serious concerns that again UK consumers are set to foot the bill of the "mismanagement of the economy". In effect the imminent arrival of quantitative easing will see the Bank of England investing billions upon billions of pounds to acquire assets from t...
Read MoreNet immigration increases in the UK
Immigration has been a very controversial subject in the UK for some time now and figures from the Office for National Statistics will do nothing to calm this argument. The figures show that a net 196,000 more people came to the UK in 2010 than departed for foreign shores. A more detailed breakdown of the figures shows 567,000 arrivals in the UK and 371,000 people leaving the country. So why the s...
Read MoreWill loyalty cards rescue the UK retail market?
Over the last few days we have seen a significant number of retail companies revamping and relaunching their loyalty cards. Tesco has spent in the region of £150 million on a relaunch of their Clubcard operation although this just appears to be the tip of the iceberg. There is a feeling among retailers in the UK that loyalty cards will not only attract more customers that they will in due course...
Read More