BA ground crew jobs hit by sale of regional arm
06.03.07
British Airways is in talks to transfer some ground handling operations and offer voluntary redundancies in a move affecting 730 employees. Ground staff at Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester airports are to be transferred to Aviance UK, part of the Go-Ahead group.
A spokesman for BA said staff at Edinburgh (218), Glasgow (160) and Aberdeen (56) airports plus 300 staff at Manchester airport will be offered the choice of moving to Aviance UK, which is the largest ground handling company in Britain, redeployment within BA or voluntary severance. He said a 90-day consultation about the 730 jobs affected had started with trades unions.
Brendan Gold, Transport & General Workers Union (T&G) national secretary for civil air transport, said: 'There is a growing mood of anger now as our members have suffered real anxieties about their futures since the announcement in November last year that BA intended to sell its BA Connect operation to Flybe.'
Ed Blissett, GMB national officer said: 'All BA workers at the six major regional airports of Aberdeen, Inverness, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh will be devastated and fear for their future employment with BA.'
Meanwhile more than 200 jobs on a former BA Connect engineering base on the Isle of Man are under threat after the takeover. Flybe does not intend to retain the base, and is trying to sell it to another airline or aircraft support company.
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