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BA EWC and the BA Management agree on a set of information and consultation principles on business reorganisation at national level
1 July 2009
The British Airways European Works’ Council signed yesterday, at their plenary meeting, a set of principles that will enable the EWC to be informed and consulted on national reorganisation measures. The agreement is of key importance in safeguarding workers’ information and consultation rights at national level, in a company which – in most of the European countries – operate with small numbers of employees, who often cannot organise themselves in structures such as works councils or trade unions and thus cannot be represented collectively in times of business restructuring.
According to these principles, the EWC select committee will be entitled to attend local meetings with staff of countries subject to restructuring in an advisory role in order to mitigate the impact of any foreseeable redundancies. The ETF affiliated trade unions organising in British Airways will be part of the initiative.
The EWC plenary meeting was preceded by a meeting between EWC and UNITE representatives, to better coordinate future response to potential reorganisation. The UK trade unions have put all efforts possible into protecting rights and working conditions of the BA employees from UK.
On the BA cost-saving policy, the EWC secured a commitment from the management whereby, prior to any personnel cost-cuts, the company will seek to save costs in all other possible areas. For few weeks now, the EWC members have sent proposals in this sense on a regular basis (every Friday) and a process was agreed with management at last meeting to ensure the EWC receives regular updates on BA`s efforts regarding these cost-saving proposals.
The EWC members – under the coordination of their chairperson Antje Orentat – exchange information almost daily on workplace related issues such as salary negotiations, staff figures and projects, staying tuned to any changes in work organisation and potential impact on BA staff, ready to intervene.
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