After nearly three months of negotiations, British Airways has signed an agreement with the BALPA pilot association to cut 1,255 jobs and change its working conditions. The union will now allow it’s members to vote on the agreement, BALPA advises it’s members to accept the proposal.
The agreement includes a broad package of measures, including the voluntary offering of part-time work, a voluntary departure scheme and sending three hundred pilots on temporary leave for a reduced salary. As soon as the market picks up they will fly again.
In terms of salary, the pilots initially lose twenty percent. In the next two years, they will drop eight percent. In the longer term, the reduction will go back to zero. Furthermore, British Airways’ plans to fire and re-hire all pilots is off te table.
BALPA is not satisfied with the progress of the negotiations. According to the union, redundancies could have been avoided if British Airways had agreed to BALPA’s previously proposed measures.
The 4,300 BALPA members with British Airways have until July 30 to vote on the proposed measures.