Heathrow has lost £1 billion since start of March, is cutting staff pay, and could cut 1,200 jobs
Heathrow says that it has lost £1 billion since the start of March, due to the Covid pandemic. There could be 1,200 Heathrow jobs lost. The airport served a formal notice to staff yesterday, triggering a 45-day consultation period over compulsory job losses. The airport and unions have failed to agree to a deal over the future of its frontline workforce after months of talks. Heathrow is proposing salary cuts of between 15-20% for some affected staff, with a phased reduction in salaries over 2 years. A voluntary redundancy scheme has been offered. The airport claims there might be few compulsorily redundancies, but only if the unions agree a deal. About 4,700 frontline staff are affected, including engineers, security and airside operations. Heathrow has already lost 450 out of 1,000 head-office managerial staff. The airport had indicated previously that as many as a quarter of staff could be made redundant, so up to 1,200 jobs may go. Heathrow said its proposals “guarantee a job” for anyone who wants to remain with the business. The Unite union is not happy with the airport’s offers. Gatwick is losing about 600 jobs, a quarter of its workforce.
Heathrow airport could cut 1,200 jobs
By Graeme Paton, Transport Correspondent (The Times)
Thursday 3d September 2020
Heathrow says that it has lost £1 billion since the start of March and the beginning of the pandemic
Up to 1,200 jobs could be lost at Heathrow after passenger numbers at Britain’s biggest airport collapsed.
The west London airport served a formal notice to staff yesterday, triggering a 45-day consultation period over compulsory job losses.
It follows the failure of airport management and unions to agree to a deal over the future of its frontline workforce after months of talks.
Heathrow is proposing salary cuts of between 15 per cent and 20 per cent for some affected staff. There would be a phased reduction in salaries over two years, it said, and a voluntary redundancy scheme has been offered. The airport insisted that it was possible that no staff would be made compulsorily redundant, but it said that cuts were a possibility if no deal is reached with staff and unions.
About 4,700 frontline staff are affected, including engineers and those working on airside operations. Heathrow has already lost 450 out of 1,000 head-office staff.
The airport had indicated previously that as many as a quarter of staff could be made redundant because of the pandemic, indicating that up to 1,200 of the affected frontline jobs may go.
Last week, Gatwick, the rival London airport, said that a quarter of its workforce, or 600 jobs, would be lost as part of a restructuring programme.
Heathrow said that it had lost £1 billion since the start of March after a sharp drop in passenger numbers. It said that provisional figures for August — usually its busiest month — showed that passenger numbers were down by 82 per cent compared with last year.
A spokesman said: “Covid-19 has decimated the aviation industry, which has led to an unprecedented drop in passenger numbers at Heathrow. Discussions with our nnions have taken place over four months and our final offer is informed by feedback we have received from them. But with air travel showing little sign of recovery, these discussions cannot go on indefinitely and we must act now to prevent our situation from worsening.
“We have now started a period of formal consultation with our unions on our offer, which still guarantees a job at the airport for anyone who wishes to stay with our business.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/business/heathrow-airport-could-cut-1-200-jobs-nhd3kr3s6
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Heathrow seeks staff pay cuts with jobs warning
3rd September 2020 (BBC)
London’s Heathrow Airport has told unions it will seek pay cuts for thousands of workers due to the coronavirus collapse in air travel.
The airport is looking for pay cuts of 15% to 20%, affecting about half of the 4,700 staff in engineering, air-side operations and security.
It warns job cuts could be implemented if no agreement is reached.
Heathrow said in a statement that Covid-19 has decimated the industry and had cost the airport £1bn since March.
The airport has informed union officials that it was triggering a 45-day consultation period about the proposals, which involve voluntary severance schemes as well as pay and recruitment freezes and salary reductions for management.
However, the west London airport said its proposals “guarantee a job” for anyone who wants to remain with the business.
Heathrow has already reduced its managerial roles by a third, and in June launched a voluntary redundancy scheme.
“Provisional traffic figures for August show passenger numbers remain 82% down on last year and we must urgently adapt to this new reality,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
It continued: “Discussions with our unions have taken place over four months and our final offer is informed by feedback we have received from them.
‘Create panic’
“But with air travel showing little sign of recovery, these discussions cannot go on indefinitely and we must act now to prevent our situation from worsening.
“We have now started a period of formal consultation with our unions on our offer, which still guarantees a job at the airport for anyone who wishes to stay with our business.”
Wayne King, an official at the union Unite, said the plans would “further undermine confidence in the industry”. It comes after airlines and tour firms announced thousands of job cuts.
Mr King added: “Our members have worked tirelessly throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. To conduct industrial relations via the media in such a brutish manner is designed to create fear and panic in a group of key workers.”
He said “it should not be forgotten that Heathrow is an incredibly wealthy company”, claiming that the attempt to cut pay and job was about boosting future profits.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54006985
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