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07 February 2012 | Sign In
Are airline strikes catching?
German government intervenes in Lufthansa dispute
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Eugene Gold Monday 15 March 2010 |
Following the debacle of British Airways and its never-ending dispute with some of its aircrew, we hear that Lufthansa was forced to cancel hundreds of flights after its pilots went on strike over conditions and job security. There appears to be a collective madness that encourages a view that messing up other people’s travel plans somehow enhances long-term job security.
Germany’s transport minister Peter Ramsauer has signalled his intention to intervene although this is essentially a dispute between an employer and one of its unions. The German government is usually slow to interfere in industrial relations but the fragile position of the airline industry and the increasing inter-dependence on international partnerships makes this an important move.
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Strikes tend to become a power struggle between unions and employers and quickly move away from the origin employee based issues. There is now a move for the Teamsters Union over here in the USA to get together with the British Unite union to 'extend' the scope of the strike. Now, this might be because the Teamsters feel that the poor down trodden British cabin crew need their assistance, or it might just be that there is an opportunity to build a new power base. | |
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Christine Piggot, Bristol, UK 18 April 2010, 06:09PM | |
The unions are after power. The more power they get, the more they want so, yes, strikes are catching. If the unions are successful in this battle with BA then they will go after other airlines and then after other big company targets. Very little of this is about the working conditions of the BA cabin crew - this is about who runs the Downing Street machine and who controls the balance of power in the election. When, oh when will we wake up to understand that this is a serious challenge to life in Britain. | |
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