A viral video that takes a dig at British Airways for its plan to restructure its business through measures such as layoff and pay cuts, is being misunderstood online as a farewell message by the carrier.
The two-minute long video is a montage of the British Airways staff bidding farewell to its passengers and various stakeholders with the claim that the airline fired its entire staff on June 15.
The embattled airline is in a bitter feud with trade unions and legislators, who accuse the airline of using the pandemic as an excuse to slash its workforce. In late April the airline said it planned to slash 12,000 jobs or a quarter of its workforce because of the drop in air travel. The airline, which is owned by International Consolidated Airlines Group has also drawn flak for its proposal of steep pay cuts and its fire-and-rehire policy.
The male voiceover in the video states that British Airways is shutting down completely and has fired its employees.
The video is being shared online with the message 'British airways saying goodbye to the world.just unbelievable for one of the highest profit-making airline company for the last 70 years.' (Click here )
An archive of the video is available here.
The post is being circulated on Twitter too, with the same caption. An archive of the post is available here.
Thank you & goodbye 👋 #BritishAirways pic.twitter.com/qzHqlQUL90
— Yosha Joseph🇰🇼 (@Yosha71) June 28, 2020
Fact Check
"We are acting now to protect as many jobs possible," a spokesperson for British Airways told BOOM.
"The airline industry is facing the deepest structural change in its history, as well as facing a severely weakened global economy. We call on Unite and GMB to consult with us on our proposals as our pilot union, BALPA, is doing. Working together we can protect more jobs as we prepare for a new future."
A reverse image search on the first frame of the video reveals it was originally posted by the YouTube channel called 'Unite The UnionYout' on June 14.
'Unite The Union' it is the trade union which represents the British Airways Cabin Crew. But a look at Unite The Union's official page directs us to its official YouTube handle, which goes by the name, 'Unite The Union' and has 2.6k subscribers, which is different from the origin of the YouTube page with only 785 subscribers.
The fake account has the 'Unite The Union' logo but the name is different 'Unite The Union Yout,' and is not an official handle for the trade union. It has only 785 subscribers.
BOOM reached out to Unite The Union who confirmed that the video was made by an imposter. While it is still unclear who made the video, an investigation is underway.
It has a long-standing fight with British Airways about its employee policies during the coronavirus pandemic. (Click here to know more)
Similar articles have been documented by the British media and can be found here, here, and here.