Starmer tells Boris Johnson to punish BA for rehiring 30,000 staff on worse pay and conditions

Airline's 'actions cannot be allowed to stand without consequences on landing slots' Labour leader says

Keir Starmer has called for British Airways to be stripped of valuable landing slots unless it pulls plans to axe 42,000 staff and rehire 30,000 on worse pay and conditions.

The Labour leader called for Boris Johnson to act, telling him: “The prime minister should call it out.”

Sir Keir called the airline’s move – revealed at the end of last week – a “warning shot to millions” of workers furloughed during the coronavirus pandemic.

Its “actions cannot be allowed to stand without consequences on landing slots,” he told Mr Johnson.

The Unite union has warned that 60 per cent of cabin crew will “not receive a future pay increase on their basic or variable pay for the remainder of their working lives”.

But the prime minister ducked the controversy, while insisting ministers were doing all they could to “encourage to keep workers on”.

Ministers “cannot with a magic wand ensure every single job before the crisis is retained after the crisis,” he told MPs.

The clash came after BA staff accused Willie Walsh, the boss at its parent company IAG, of using the pandemic as a cover for the “fire and rehire” plans.

Unite claims Worldwide and Euro Fleet crew face a minimum 36.5 per cent pay cut, rising to 46 per cent for the highest paid.

BA insists the maximum basic pay cut would be 20 per cent and that 40 per cent of cabin crew would get a pay rise of roughly 10 per cent.

At prime minister’s questions, Sir Keir again attacked last week’s mini-Budget for failing to provide “sector-specific support” to those areas – such as aviation – where jobs are most at risk.

And he went on: “Alongside the 12,000 redundancies already announced, BA is trying to force through the rehiring of the remaining 30,000 workers on worse terms and conditions.

“That is totally unacceptable and it is a warning shot to many other working people.

“Will the prime minister now personally intervene and make clear that actions like those at BA cannot be allowed to stand without consequences for landing slots?”

But Mr Johnson replied: “Let's be absolutely clear, British Airways and many other companies are in severe difficulties at the moment and we cannot, I'm afraid, simply with a magic wand ensure that every single job that was being done before the crisis is retained after the crisis.

“What we can do and what we are doing is encouraging companies to keep their workers on with the job retention scheme, with the job retention bonus and with a massive programme in investing in this country, a £600m investment programme in this country to build, build, build and create jobs, jobs, jobs.”