missdimeaner

This certainly seems like a bizarre decision at the airports where BA are investing heavily in lounge and premium check in upgrades.
This is bad news.

skipness1E

Won't the staff be staying on just having to apply for the same job for a lot more work and less money, all so Cruz can make another million or so?

GF2B

Some really great people at PHL, many of whom have become familiar faces over my 4 years living there. They will be missed!

lavajava

This is very sad news - some of the staff at BOS have been there 20 years and are just fantastic.

I think the lounge in BOS already uses contract staff so not sure that will change.

BA are making a big mistake, especially at stations such as BOS and JFK that have multiple flights a day.

It's time to consider whether I fire BA for my BOS trips and switch to VS.

Down Low

Not surprising.

13901

Canada is still, largely, manned but under review. Fact is, nothing is sacred anymore, nothing is above scrutiny or deemed 'too important to be touched'.

If it was a healthy approach at trimming fat and be competitive then I'd agree; but too much of it is based on an idiotic notion of headcount control, reduction of pension costs and 'let's-go-for-the-cheapest-option-possible'. This notion has backfired, sometimes in a spectacular way (and no, the Bank Holiday outage isn't the only one), more than once but yet no one seems to understand how outsourcing ought to be made and managed.

The only place that isn't into outsourcing is Orient House, obviously.

All the above is my own opinion and not BA's (of course, why would it be?)

Can I help you

It's just been made public, I'm not sure when it's going to be implemented.

nyjoe4

As someone who has worked for a handling company, the biggest problem is that no one is willing or able to accept responsibility. The handling company staff blame their management, the handling company management blames the airline station managers or duty managers - and there are no contingencies with things go wrong.

Assuming Swissport is taking over - after all, they've been sliding into T7 at JFK for months - watch terms, pay, benefits, and morale plummet.

And who will be the biggest loser, besides the staff?

The customers.

simons1

Shame. Wait for any IRROPS to happen and it will all go pear shaped.

But all consistent with the dumbing down of BA, move on anyone with experience and replace with 'cheap as possible'.

NWIFlyer

Thanks. I'm through SFO next week, so sadly it's not going to be a happy time whatever - it's terrible working under threat when you know you're going to have to effectively apply for your own job back with possibly a much smaller chance of success than if BA had retained control.

I've always found the staff excellent at those outstations where I've come into contact with them - not least the outstanding lounge staff in IAD. Whilst not entirely unexpected given the direction BA has been heading with outstations over the past few years, still terribly sad and - certainly in the case of JFK - something that looks horribly short-sighted.

nyjoe4

The savings will be around USD $10 million annually, according to the company.

Two questions need to be asked:

-- How? Is it all cuts in wages and benefits?

-- Given the pay packages of the senior team, is this really necessary?

The BA unionized staff at JFK have repeatedly refused to go on strike, and this is how they get repaid. For all of you who scream and yell about UNITE, remember that this is the alternative.

sdix

Not good anytime people loose jobs or have reduced benefits.

Having said that I had great service from the agents at SJC on Sunday. I assume these are out sourced staff?

I generally look to the station staff to assist in general BA issues such as how do I get from T5 to T3 or what's good to eat at LHR. Where's the lounge in BCN.

BA staff in SFO or other outposts usually can't answer my questions so from that standpoint it'll be no loss.

darthlemsip

He moved on a while back

JAXBA

This is very sad. I know a lot of the ticketing staff myself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NWIFlyer

CIHY, is this implemented today, or just announced at the end of a review period? I sense from the tone of your opening post that today is implementation

Not implementation; I've seen one of the communications from the US union, the IAMAW (which was the union for JAX too) that the outsourcing is being proposed as part of contract negotiations, and as those can take time, it's not imminent.

It may well be a divide and conquer tactic BA uses to negotiate pay and benefits; i.e. take bad package A and everyone stays, take slightly better package B and sacrifice selected stations, take package C and save JFK only, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kusteneun

Is Canada all contracted out?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 13900

Canada is still, largely, manned but under review. Fact is, nothing is sacred anymore, nothing is above scrutiny or deemed 'too important to be touched'.

Canadian stations were actually contracted back in about 10 years ago. It was announced as more cost effective at the time. Canada employees aren't covered by the US IAMAW union/contract, but I wouldn't doubt that their status is also kept under review.

Jagboi

I don't think so. I know someone who works for Air Canada at YYC and she said that the BA staff there are BA employees. For now anyway.