The latest in aviation and industrial news from around the world N EWS Upfront Executive Presidents welcome Paul Naylor In the last addition, I alluded to the slightest signs of recovery that we were beginning to witness. That continues to be a theme, although its a slow, arduous process. Notwithstanding the glimmers of hope, we have witnessed the failure of Norwegian Air recently, with yet more employees facing hardship and uncertainty. We will do what we can for them under the umbrella of our Redundancy Assistance Group; however, the road back to flying for those directly affected by the COVID-19 crisis is a challenging one. On a more positive note, the Governments vaccination rollout has been more successful than most couldve hoped. This will ultimately shape our recovery; however, Government has been lacking in just about all other aviation-related areas. Zero help for aviation in the recent budget sends a clear message that it has decided to let our industry sink or swim on its own. We must make sure it swims. With international air travel tentatively earmarked for restart on 17th May, and the Global Travel Task Force due to report on 12th April, the next couple of months will undoubtedly be crucial. Contained within this editions electronic pages is another subject that has huge influence on our future: Brexit. The re-establishment of the CAA as a standalone regulator is significant. Will we become a worldwide regulator of choice, or simply a shadow of our EASA neighbours? Weve interviewed Richard Morriarty and Rob Bishton to discuss. Our work in the flight safety arena continues unabated. In this edition, we have an in-depth article on safety concepts by leading air safety expert Simon Bennett. Internally, our focus is on finding a new General Secretary as Brian approaches the end of his five-year term. These are big shoes to fill and the NEC has utilised the resources of one of Londons top recruitment consultancies to assist in that process. Hopefully, we will be able to report further on that and what recovery might look like in the next edition. Stay safe, Paul Naylor, BALPA NEC Executive President and easyJet captain Supporting members through redundancy BALPA continues to do all it can to assist members affected by the announcement, in January, that Norwegian Air is stopping operations in the UK. When it came to light that, on top of being made redundant, employees would not even be paid their owed salary, holiday or notice pay despite previous assurances from Norwegian we demanded answers. Why are UK employees being left high and dry? Why did NAR have no proper contingency plans in place for potential liquidation? Why has Norwegian broken a promise, made in November last year, and refused to pay any contractual notice? What has happened to the 10.5m that NAR UK was supposed to receive from another part of the Norwegian Group? BALPA has raised these questions with KPMG, the liquidators of the company, and has been assured it will investigate the corporate structure and whether any monies are owed to the UK airline. In our view, this money should be made available to help pay what is owed to pilots and other staff including salary arrears, unpaid pension contributions, unpaid notice and, in some cases, unpaid medical bills. BALPA wins major legal victory against Ryanair over blacklisting The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) has won a major legal victory against Ryanair in an initial court battle over the punitive actions of the airline against pilots who took industrial action in 2019. The employment tribunal claim by 29 BALPA members was launched after each had their staff travel benefits removed in retaliation for striking. The pilots claim the threatened, and actual, removal of those benefits was unlawful, and that Ryanairs actions contravene the relevant law, that a worker has a right not to be subjected to any detriment for taking part in trade union activities. The pilots argue they were illegally blacklisted by Ryanair, which used a prohibited list in determining who to punish, contravening the Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010. Following a two-day preliminary hearing, the Employment Tribunal has robustly rejected Ryanairs technical legal submissions that the relevant legislation does not apply in this case. The tribunal also rejected an attempt by Ryanair to re-argue the lawfulness of the strike action itself, having been defeated by BALPA in its attempt to obtain an interim injunction to restrain the strike in August 2019 and, subsequently, deciding to abandon its High Court proceedings against BALPA. The proceedings will now continue to a full hearing where the tribunal will rule substantively on whether Ryanair did breach the law. The 29 members bringing the claim continue to have the complete and unfaltering support of BALPA, and should know that 10,000 BALPA members stand behind them in solidarity. Government ignores industry pleas for support BALPA members united to send a strong message to the Prime Minister: our industry needs your help. In a remarkable effort, 7,000 of you signed our open letter to the Prime Minister. We joined other key industry bodies, politicians and airlines in calling for a substantial, bespoke support package for aviation. All eyes were on the Chancellor Rishi Sunaks Budget statement. Astonishingly, he said not a single word about aviation, while, at the same time, providing sector-specific support for non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure, gyms, personal care, arts, culture, and the housing sector. General Secretary Brian Strutton said: This is a massive slap in the face for the industry that has supported repatriations, brought in vital supplies, and faced never-ending changes to restrictions and rules and a total shutdown as a result of government policy. Mr Sunak has totally abandoned aviation and failed to acknowledge just how difficult times are for the sector right now. This Budget could push many airlines further into a death spiral and cost even more jobs. A summer season? The one glimmer of hope is the Prime Ministers announcement that international travel may be able to restart on 17 May, subject to a report from the Global Travel Taskforce. We now stand by for 12 April, when that group is due to report. If we can achieve a decent amount of flying this summer and help the public get away on holiday, that will be a huge relief. We know there is huge pent-up demand for air travel. The vaccine rollout is going well, and other policies such as testing and vaccine passports may also help convince the decision-makers, and the public, that we can get on board our aircraft and allow our passengers to enjoy the world again, safely. The new online hub for The Log You can get the latest edition of The Log and links to our app versions, as well as a host of other info about the magazine on our new Log webpage: log.balpa.org Your one-stop shop for The Log magazine Supporting members: BALPA is assisting members affected by Norwegian Air
