Gatwick revamp puts jobs at risk

BA is the only airline operating out of Gatwick with its own ground staff workforce and under cost-saving plans unveiled yesterday the airline wants to either lose jobs or transfer them to another company. A total of around 400 ramp workers, including baggage handlers, will see their jobs outsourced while 170 customer service staff and management support employees are at risk of losing their jobs. BA said it hopes to reach agreement with unions to offer anyone who works on the ramp a role with a new external supplier, under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 legislation.

It says it has entered talks with unions on proposals to "transform the way" it works at Gatwick. But unions expressed grave concern at the plans and want BA to backtrack. Gavin Davies of the GMB union said: "We have up to now enjoyed good industrial relations with BA at Gatwick. This announcement of 170 job losses and 400 staff to be outsourced is a disaster for staff morale." He warned that in the run-up to the Olympics the "uncertainty around jobs will lead to rock-bottom morale and this will impact on customer service levels at a time when morale needs to be high." The union was willing to talk with BA, he said, to "get to the bottom of what it is trying to achieve at Gatwick" but members wanted the company to "take this announcement off the table to allow this to happen." Unite also "expressed concern" over the plans and called on the airline to guarantee no compulsory redundancies as a result of any reorganisation. National officer Oliver Richardson said the plans were "extremely worrying for staff. "We are calling for no compulsory redundancies and, if a worker wishes to be redeployed, BA should find them alternative work." Talks formally get under way next week. The third-party ramp work supplier has yet to be decided. [email protected]