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Anger towards BA strike
Angry at Unite and angry at the BA cabin crew.
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Eugene Gold Tuesday 11 May 2010 |
We British are a pretty stoic bunch. We put up with things, a mixture of the old fashion stiff upper-lip and simple resignation to the inevitable. I can be as guilty as anyone, cowardice, taking the easy route – but now I am ANGRY. Angry at Unite and angry at the BA cabin crew.
How dare they target Whitsun, or the late-Spring bank holiday as their secular leaders would no doubt call it? How dare they target families, children and football fans travelling to the World Cup? Yes, I am ranting and incoherent but that is because I am Angry.
I know that BA are not my favourite airline. I hated the daubed tailfins and their Terminal Five incompetence, and I expect CEO Willie Walsh is a pretty cold fish. But, none of this justifies strike action aimed at the travelling public. Not just spilling over as collateral damage but aimed at you, me and all who travel with us.
My father and grandfather were traditionally staunch union men. It went with the territory and hard times demanded hard sacrifice but, at least, it was their sacrifice. Unite are putting ordinary people’s welfare on their altar of political power and greed and I detest them for it.
OK, there will be BA employees saying that I do not understand the reasons for the dispute. I thought it was originally about BA’s decision to reduce staffing and cut back on some long-standing staff benefits. Maybe it is more but none of this justifies this abhorrent strike action.
Say that BA use six cabin crew whilst their competitors use five. BA have to reduce staff and, ultimately, as long as they pay the redundancy, that should be the end of it. Of course they have to do it sensitively and seek to minimise hardship but BA need to be able to run their business. As for staff benefits, in good times companies can reward their staff with flight concessions etc., but in tough times these concessions simply have to be controlled.
I am really not trying to argue the case for or against BA. People should be free to work for the company or work somewhere else. There are well-established rules governing employment, contracts and redundancies. To me, this strike is about power, union power, political power and the public (you and me) being held to ransom.
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Pat Kinsett, Cardiff 11 May 2010, 06:20AM | |
I agree. I am also angry at yet another strike aimed at the public. These strikes are only going to get worse as the unions flex their muscles at whatever government tries to run the country. | |
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Patti, Coventry 11 May 2010, 06:38AM | |
BA is too big and has been overstaffed for too long. It would be better if the airline were broken down into different bits and made more manageable. There is a small hardcore of staff making all these problems. The majority of staff do not want all this trouble and like their jobs which are being put at risk. It was the same in my last job, a small handful of agitators made it bad for all of us. | |
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Trudie Kent, London 11 May 2010, 07:35AM | |
I disliked the way that BA treated their staff in the past and was very anti what they did to that check-in lady who wanted to wear a cross but nothing justifies this type of strike. Unite are deliberately fixing dates to do the maximum damage to the public and then saying it is BA's fault for not giving them what they want. I do not know enough facts to judge properly so I am not so much with BA but I am definitely against Unite. | |
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Jaye, Durham 11 May 2010, 01:15PM | |
Unite will certainly do maximum damage, with 20 days of srikes so soon after the volcano incident. With Unite having this amount of power, BA will have to surcome to their demands or the poor travellers will be further punished. | |
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Colin Grant, Darlington 11 May 2010, 06:18PM | |
Willie Walsh may be a cold fish but his is also a tough bastard and I just do not see him giving way. This is going to be a fight to the death and it may destroy the airline. I reckon that the first task of the new government, assuming that they sort themselves out, is to sort out this mess. | |
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Colin, Oxford 11 May 2010, 06:18PM | |
Any decent management team would have sorted this out by now. Equally, the Union efforst remind me of Arthur Scargill and the coal miners. BA has all the problems of "jobs for life" inherited from a nationalised industry. I fear that this is the end of BA. | |
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Mrs Cambell, Fort William 12 May 2010, 11:23AM | |
There is still some hope that common sense will be applied and the strike will be called off before the 18th. I do hope so for the sake of everybody involved. | |
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Richard Firth, King's Lynn 12 May 2010, 11:31AM | |
I read that the air crew (I think there are 12,000 of them) are willing to settle if BA will re-instate their friends and families travel concessions by which they get to fly at 10% of the normal ticket price. Well, I am glad to know that all this disruption is for something so important ! Do these people not know that they are screwing up the holidays and businesses of real people whilst they hanker after their wholly undeserved perks of the job. Of course, none of this may be true and it may just be a nasty rumour put out by a disgruntled passenger paying the full ticket price. | |
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Jenny, Heathrow 12 May 2010, 12:24PM | |
Has anyone that writes here ever considered what it is like to be a BA employee? The travel perks as they are being called are part of the employment contract. When I joined BA they told me how much money I would get, what travel options I would get and how many hours I would have to work. They are suddenly saying that they do not want to provide the options which encouraged me to join in the first place. How would they like it if I said that I was now only going to work less hours. People should get real and support us to make this company live up to what it promised. | |
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I too am angry. This strike is not necessary and the damage that it will do to the economy and the public is totally out of step with any benefits being demanded by the cabin crew. The reports that this is just about travel perks presumably cannot be true. But, even f they are only half true, it shows the level of duplicity and confusion that surounds this whole issue. | |
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Kimberley Gough, Swansea 15 May 2010, 05:40AM | |
This is so sad for families trying to get away for the Whitsun break. This is one of those times where the government should step in and prohibit a strike. If this is really about perks, then the company should either take the perks away from all of the employees or make it clear that perks of the job are for those that support and are loyal to the company through good and bad times. | |
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Felicity Carlton, Witney, Oxfordshire 21 May 2010, 09:35AM | |
I just dread what will happen if the union wins this one. They are certainly not going to sit back but will quickly find a new target to attack. Are the unions bad? not really, they are just doing what their members pay them to do. It is like having to a real bastard lawyer represent you in court. He will say and do things that make you cringe, but that is what you are paying him for - to win. He will not care much about the damage that he does to the other side or anyone caught in the crossfire. The unions do not care that they will damage a once great airline or that we the public will suffer. They are fighting for their members and to hell with the consequences. | |
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Tony, East London 28 May 2010, 02:13PM | |
These union type strikes really wind me up. It is always the public that suffers more, they should be greatful of empoyment in this economic crisis. | |
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