01 Nov

November Member Update

Herewith an update on current industrial issues as well as developments in relation to the wet leasing of our JFK service. As you can see there’s a lot of work currently being progressed on behalf of the membership. This is in addition to training our new reps, Jeremy & Adam, who’ll you’ll start to see around the office from January.

As reminder, the trade union is permitted one duty rep per day. As you can imagine, with nearly 1900 members the appointment calendar is always busy. To help us help you, please remember to leave both a phone and staff number if you reach the voicemail whilst the duty rep is supporting another member. This will enable us to reply as promptly as possible. 


Fatigue Safety Action Group

We’re pleased to report that we have secured a seat on this important forum. The group meets quarterly to review issues relating to fatigue reporting and OM A s.7 Scheme Rules. Gatwick has seen an increase in fatigue reports over the summer months, which is helping to identify particular work patters that could be better planned. You will be interested to learn that our flight crew colleagues have had particular success with fatigue reports which have resulted in their shorthaul work blocks being limited to 5 days in the summer. Click the link below to find out more about fatigue management and how to report by downloading our TGU Members Guide.
 

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD GUIDE


Winter 19 Crew Matrix

Your reps met with the company to review the Winter 19 Crew Matrix. We can confirm that we have successfully managed to maintain the crewing figures that we secured last year. You can download a copy of the W19 matrix from our mobile app. As with previous years we will meet with the company again in December to review ‘Buy on Board’ sales data and make adjustments if necessary. 

IA Disruption Payment

As you know your trade union was successful in securing a £40 per day IA disruption payment for eligible crew for the 9th & 10th September. An issue has been identified which meant a number of eligible crew weren’t captured during the allowance run. We’re pleased to report that this has been resolved and eligible crew can expect to see a manual adjustment in their November pay. 

Commission Payments

Again, an issue has been identified and resolved in relation to Inflight Retail Commission for October. Thanks to all those crew who got in touch to report the issue. Adjustments will be made in November payroll.

Crew Meals – Band 4

After many months of campaigning we have successfully lobbied the company to review the current hot meal provisions on longer Band 4 flights. As a result of our efforts we have managed to secure additional hot meals on the following flights:

ACE, DLM, FNC, HER, KGS, LCA, RAK, RHO, TFS.

We will continue to campaign to improve the quality and quantity of crew meal provisions onboard and hope to bring you more news when possible.

Visa Days

Again, after many years of campaigning your trade union has managed to secure paid time off for crew to attend Visa appointments at the US Embassy in London. For the last decade the company insisted that these appointments were conducted in the crew member’s own time. The new process will see the appointments rostered by CCAS and you can find full details of the new process on the company intranet. 

JFK Wet Lease

This week your TU reps met with the company to express our total dismay at the outsourcing of the LGW-JFK service to Evelop Airlines. We also raised concerns in relation to the handling of the situation, especially in regard to company communications. We regret to report that the company is maintaining their position in that the work is being ‘wet leased’ to another operator and not ‘Work Transferred’ to another BA fleet, meaning provisions under the Work Transfer Agreement do not apply. We do not have a ‘wet lease’ agreement that we can use in this situation. Naturally, we have asked the company how they intend to mitigate the financial impact for displaced crew. The company has told us they are confident they can mitigate the impact by prioritising displaced crew for alternative trips as gaps become available throughout the month. In the first instance they have asked affected crew to contact their line manager to register the dates of the removed trip/trips and indicate whether they are willing to flex days off in order to pick up alternative trips of longer duration. 

Interestingly, the company made reference to the trade unions success during 2019 in securing hundreds of thousands of pounds in extra pay for Gatwick cabin crew through the IA Disruption & LAS payments, stating there simply isn’t any contingency budget left to tap into.

Despite these assurances we still have serious concerns in relation to the financial impact. As each crew member will be affected differently, the final impact and success of the company’s attempts to mitigate will not be known until the end of the roster period. If the company’s efforts have not proved successful the trade union will assist crew members in raising individual grievances and support them through the process. This may also include a referral to Unite legal to explore the possibly of any potential claim. 

2020 Allowances & 2010 Scheduling Talks

Finally, talks between the trade union and the company continue in relation to reviewing the current allowance system and 2010 scheduling proposals. Progress has been limited over the past two months as all internal industrial relation personnel have been seconded to focus on the BALPA dispute. This has prevented progress across the business in regard to making new local agreements. We hope our flight crew colleagues find a solution soon and we can continue to progress our own talks. We’ll continue to update on progress as and when possible. 

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