British Airways union Unite announces 20 more strike days

[Babooshka]

These cretins want more cash.

 

WHAT??????????? Where are you getting your information??????????????????????

[brianthedog]

the staff voted for a strike though, i'm quite sure they knew what they were doing when they did it.

 

Sorry - not very clear. I wasn't referring exclusively to BA staff union members. More those who work for other companies who will be looking at Unite attempting to destroy a business. It would certainly make me consider whether I wanted to be affiliated with an organisation like that...

[Treatment]

It sounds like this will be the Tory's Summer of Discontent, will the dead go unburied ?

[brianthedog]

It always surprises me how quick people are to judge other workers, when they have taken a difficult decision to go on strike without knowing the half of what the dispute is about. Are people so conditioned since the Thatcher years that they lap up the management propaganda, spread by the mainstream media, without realising there is another side to the story.

 

Come on then, enlighten us all...

 

That is not the point. The point is that BA have specifically targeted the people that have gone on strike to lose their seniority. This is a dispute about union busting.

 

This is also a dispute about business busting.

[shane39]

I know a married couple who work for BA.They both work long haul, 0cabin crew) They have a £400,000+ house in Brighton and at the moment are holidaying with their children in Barbados.The holiday cost them next to nothing,(thanks to BAs generous perks) I don't blame them for fighting to save their wages n perks,but overgenerous they are.At the end of the day they are only bloody waiters/tress in the sky.

 

My partner,(who is the sister of the BA employee,mentioned above) Went to Peru with them,it cost my partner less than £100. She also went to Mexico and stayed in a 5* hotel,once again less than £100. So,who was paying for my dearest fab hols?

[Wildcat]

Come on then, enlighten us all....

 

It is not so hard to find out... This is the recommendation of the Unite Leadership setting out the reasons for the current ballot result and industrial action:

 

In a letter to crew accompanying the ballot Unite joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, outlined three main reasons why cabin crew should vote to reject the offer.

 

First is the failure of BA to fully restore travel concessions from all crew who took industrial action. BA will take away 'seniority' based travel which means that crew with long service will lose out disproportionately from those with a few years service.

 

Tony wrote: “This plan aims to treat loyal employees and trade unionists as permanent second-class citizens, branded for having supported the union and humiliated for having taken democratically-endorsed and fully-legal strike action. There is no way on earth this union could ever accept such a sanction. The fact that management has been so insistent on its position on this matter, even though it is an issue of almost no financial consequence, must inevitably give rise to concerns about BA’s entire attitude and outlook to the future of industrial relations.”

 

The second reason for Unite recommending rejection is the company's disciplinary actions against over 50 crew members who have been suspended on charges arising from the dispute. Four crew have already been dismissed. Unite proposed having disciplinaries which result in dismissal go to an appeal hearing to be held by a third party such as Acas, but BA refused to agree.

 

Tony Woodley wrote: “The charges in the great majority of cases are entirely trivial and barely worthy of a slap on the wrist, let alone the sack. This evidence of victimisation and draconian punishments – in some cases directed against your representatives – render worthless the words in the offer designed to rule out such behaviour.”

 

The third and most general reason for rejection relates to Unite's loss of trust in BA's commitment in finding a solution to the dispute.

 

Mr Woodley wrote: “Any agreement is only as good as the integrity and sincerity of those putting their names to it. By their actions and behaviour throughout the dispute, and continuing to this day, it is impossible to take BA management’s words at face value.

 

“I have had a considerable experience of strikes and disputes. Normally, the sort of issues we are referring to here – the removal of sanctions imposed during a strike, the speedy and sensitive winding down of all but the most genuinely serious disciplinary issues arising from a dispute – are straight-forward matters of industrial common sense, dealt with swiftly once the issues of substance between the two sides have been resolved. Yet in this case it is precisely on these issues that management has proved most intransigent of all.

 

“This is at the very least a major failure of industrial statesmanship by Mr Walsh, fanning the flames of conflict at the very moment when peace would otherwise have been at hand. At worst, it is a clear statement of intent – that the company wishes to break trade unionism among its cabin crew, not by a formal act of de-recognition (unattainable under present legislation because of our collective strength and organisation), but by a process of bullying, humiliation and piece-meal victimisation until you are left with no effective protection or the smallest measure of control over your working environment.”

 

 

http://www.unitetheunion.com/news__events/latest_news/unite_recommends_rejection_in.aspx

 

This is also a dispute about business busting.

 

Indeed, all the more reason to support the dispute and apply pressure on the business busting Willie Walsh to settle rather than inflame the situation further by putting illegal conditions on a settlement that no union could accept.

[brianthedog]

It is not so hard to find out... This is the recommendation of the Unite Leadership setting out the reasons for the current ballot result and industrial action:

 

 

 

http://www.unitetheunion.com/news__events/latest_news/unite_recommends_rejection_in.aspx

 

 

 

Indeed, all the more reason to support the dispute and apply pressure on the business busting Willie Walsh to settle rather than inflame the situation further by putting illegal conditions on a settlement that no union could accept.

 

I kind of expected to be shown something independant - not a statement from the union itself. Perhaps I should counter that with a statement from Walsh or a pro-BA rag?

[Wildcat]

If you want to know what the dispute is about and why the staff voted in such large numbers is to look at what their representatives are saying !

[Babooshka]

My partner,(who is the sister of the BA employee,mentioned above) Went to Peru with them,it cost my partner less than £100. She also went to Mexico and stayed in a 5* hotel,once again less than £100. So,who was paying for my dearest fab hols?

 

Your partner's sister will either be down as a nominated staff travel companion, ONLY in the absence her sister having NO other family, because the only people entitled to be on staff travel privileges are a spouse/partner, and TWO children maximum. Additional family members are NOT permitted to travel through this means.

 

If an employee has neither spouse nor partner, then they may include ONE friend OR other close family member on their concessions.

 

An alternative is buying 'Hotline' flights which are SLIGHTLY reduced flights, for ALL airline staff, which employees can purchase for anyone they know. Their price depends on sales already made on a particular flight...ie if a flight is not selling well, the tickets will be cheaper. They are also cheaper the further in advance you buy them.

 

As for the cheap hotel...this does NOT come through British Airways. This will have been either an offer that the hotel itself makes to travel industry employers, OR it will have come from a company who advertise in the travel industry newspapers...eg Touchdown. British Airways do not offer deals like this to its' employees. It does not have any such contracts.

 

This is why your partner has got such a good holiday deal. It is a myth that British Airways provides this for its' employees....yet people are desperate to believe it is true.

[brianthedog]

If you want to know what the dispute is about and why the staff voted in such large numbers is to look at what their representatives are saying !

 

The gist of it seems to be that they don't want their reward packages bringing in line with the rest of the industry? And, to make out like they're not just being plain unreasonable, they've bundled in a couple of complaints about being treated fairly and the safety of customers.

 

So really, the cabin crew are saying sod the rest of BA, because we don't want to be assessed for pay with our peers in industry we'll bring the company to it's knees. Sod the engineers, ground crew, pilots, maintenance, back office, sales, catering, suppliers, customers etc...