Over one third of British Airways flights were cancelled from London's Heathrow Airport, leaving thousands of passengers stranded for a second day, following a massive global computer failure. The GMB union has now reportedly blamed the airline for outsourcing hundreds of IT jobs to India last year for its current problems. Their website states that the union had warned BA against outsourcing hundreds of IT jobs to India last year.
GMB national officer for aviation is quoted as saying then that a march will be held “in protest as the company plans to outsource and offshore work to one of the biggest IT majors in India.” The website also adds that the Indian IT major “will need to carry out work in the UK and they will bring workers from India to fill the jobs of the ex BA workers.”
Departures from London's second major airport, Gatwick, were delayed, but none were cancelled, as the airline asked people to check the status of their flights travelling to the airport. It had earlier said it plans to resume most of its flights out of Heathrow and Gatwick airports on Sunday, after a massive IT system disruption grounded planes over the weekend. “We are aiming to operate a near-normal schedule at Gatwick and the majority of services from Heathrow on Sunday,” the airline said.
A spokesperson added, “We are continuing to work hard to restore all of our IT systems. We are extremely sorry for the huge disruption caused to customers throughout Saturday and understand how frustrating their experiences will have been.”
The GMB union said the “meltdown” could have been avoided if BA hadn't made hundreds of IT staff redundant and outsourced their jobs to India. Mick Rix, national officer for aviation at GMB said, “This could have all been avoided. In 2016, BA made hundreds of dedicated and loyal IT staff redundant and outsourced work to India. BA have made substantial profits for a number of years, and many viewed the company's actions as just plain greedy.”
The airline is now expected to cough up huge sums in compensation, including costs of hotels, transport, and meal expenses for stranded passengers.
Volunteers distribute free water bottles at Heathrow
Local charity Nishkam S.W.A.T responded to the chaos by distributing free water bottles at Heathrow Airport. Over 2000 bottles of water were distributed amongst stranded passengers at Terminal 5. Grateful for the initiative, people thanked them for the service, and several generous people mentioned them on social media. “Guys you did yourself proud today,” a user commented. “Well done for your hard work and your giving. Tonight you helped with a tough day for myself. If it was not for security officers helping passengers and you guys handing out free water, the passengers would have been very unhappy.”
Global Operations Director, Randeep Singh Lall said, “We saw an opportunity to serve humanity, which is exactly what we did and will continue to do. After the tragic events of Manchester, it is important we demonstrate faith in action. There is no challenge that we cannot endure when united for the common good and when helping fellow humans.”
