BA managers have decided to pass on the company National Insurance liability of 3.1 percent to its employees, meaning they will be forced to pay an extra 4.5 percent from 6th April says GMB.
GMB, the union at British Airways, is undertaking a consultative ballot to see if members are prepared to take industrial action over reductions in their pay when the new national insurance rates are introduced on 6th April. GMB consultation with members started on the 24th February and closes on the 10th March.” From 6th April this year, as a result of changes brought in by the government, employees will have to pay an extra 1.4 percent in National Insurance contributions. Employers also face additional contributions. However, BA management have decided to pass on the company National Insurance liability of 3.1 percent to its employees. Meaning employees will pay an extra 4.5 percent.
Earlier this week, GMB announced that members at Heathrow will stage a rally on Monday 29th Feb over the outsourcing of IT jobs to India. See notes to editors for a copy of the GMB press release. Mick Rix, GMB national officer, said “BA has announced record profits of £1.4bn. This week they also won the prestige superbrand award. BA senior management can bask publicly in its recent achievements, which are due to the efforts of BA staff, however the workers that have created the company success are getting a raw deal.”
The company have decided to reward those hard working BA workers by passing on the company National Insurance tax liability to those who are members of the pension schemes. Due to changes brought in by the government from April 6th workers will have to pay an extra 1.4 percent in National Insurance. However BA executives have decided to pass on the company National Insurance liability of 3.1 percent to its employees. This means that employees at BA will pay an extra 4.5 percent from April.
A few weeks ago the country was in uproar about Google tax affairs. Now BA are not only avoiding their tax liability to the government but have decided to pass on its liability and force its employees to pay the company share and pay far more tax than they need to.BA are acting disproportionately and are disadvantaging lower paid women colleagues, who in effect will be paying more of the company share of tax as a proportion of earnings, than senior managers earning above £100k per annum. Is it any wonder that our staff representatives are demanding to be consulted on whether they should take industrial action to persuade the company to behave like a responsible superbrand employer?”
