British Airways staff ‘spat at and suffered homophobic abuse’ after IT system failure
Workers were forced to watch ‘disabled passengers and babies sleep at the airport,’ claims union
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.British Airways staff were “spat at”, “suffered homophobic abuse” and had to watch “as disabled customers and babies were forced to sleep in the airport” during the airline’s recent system failure, claims a major union.
GMB, which represents numerous BA employees, wrote an open letter to the airline’s CEO, Sean Doyle, laying the blame for the weekend’s disruption on the decision to outsource IT systems to India in 2016.
“It didn’t have to be this way – but underinvestment in the business, plus the decision in 2016 to make hundreds of dedicated and loyal IT staff redundant and outsource the work to India are taking their toll,” said Nadine Houghton, GMB national officer.
“Moral [sic] is at an all-time low after BA’s shameful attack on workers during the pandemic.
“Our experienced, dedicated and hardworking members fear this is now just the tip of the iceberg for the airline, with a summer of chaos now a very real prospect.”
Thousands of BA passengers’ flights were cancelled or delayed on 25, 26 and 27 February after “significant technical challenges” affected “multiple British Airways systems”, according to the carrier.
All short-haul BA flights from Heathrow were canned on Saturday, while everything from the passenger-facing website and app to the essential departure control systems was impacted by the system failure.
“We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience our customers have experienced and thank them for their patience and understanding during this incredibly frustrating period. We’re doing everything we can to get them to their destinations as soon as possible,” a British Airways spokesperson told The Independent.
Passengers faced a similar meltdown two years ago and in 2017 – when a bank holiday weekend’s worth of flights were wiped out by a system outage that apparently happened during some routine IT maintenance.
GMB’s Ms Houghton invited Mr Doyle “to walk a mile in [staff’s] shoes and hear directly about the lasting impact BA's failed fire and rehire policy is having on the very members you are now relying on to rebuild the airline.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments