Thursday 15 September 2011

RYANAIR BROOKFIELD.....''GUILTY''...............PROFIT BEFORE SAFETY...

AIRLINES MUST END SELF-EMPLOYMENT OF PILOTS

 
In an attempt to off-load risk a growing number of employers are unfairly forcing pilots to register themselves as self-employed. This should be a concern to every passenger and every taxpayer yet the authorities seem unwilling to intervene, according to the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA).

BALPA General Secretary, Jim McAuslan, said, ‘Like many trade unions we are concerned about workers who to all intents and purposes are employees but are being forced to register as self-employed. This gets the company out of having to provide holiday pay, redundancy cover, sick pay and leaves individuals fearing that they could be laid off at any moment.’

These individuals are essentially employees and the courts are slowing waking up to this. In the recent Supreme Court ruling in the Autoclenz Ltd v Belcher case the court ruled that the presence of a substitution clause did not in fact prove that there was not a “contract of employment” and many other considerations needed to be taken into account. Previously a substitution clause would require the self-employed person to supply someone else if they could not undertake the day’s work, but this was not what happened in reality.

BALPA will be encouraging fellow trade unions at the TUC Congress in London to use this judgment to launch a major attack on the abuse by employers of self-employment status.

Jim McAuslan went on: ‘BALPA’s concerns go much wider than employment status, however. We believe the practise goes against Civil Aviation Authority regulations which state that the employment of “freelance” flight crews may only be allowed in “exceptional circumstances”. In some airlines the exception is fast-becoming the norm and this needs to be addressed. BALPA will be pressing for this matter to be looked at by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) which sets world-wide standards for aviation safety.

‘As well as a safety concern the use of bogus self-employed status is leading to a loss to the Exchequer. This is aggravated when airlines insist that people are not only self-employed but have to register off-shore to secure employment. BALPA knows of many individuals who have had to go along with this façade because they are desperate for work and are given no real choice.

‘This approach is bad for jobs, bad for safety and bad for the country and the Government should act now.’

  

John Said,
Thank you BALPA.......

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