Location: in the magical land of beer and chocolates
Age: 42
Posts: 326
I really like these kind of actions . When in dire economic times, best thing to do is to bite the hand that feeds you by striking thereby making the problem even worse.
Aking to railroad workers over here (all government workers btw) that go on strike whenever they want often unannounced and always at the busiest times. I once asked them "why not work instead and not charge any fees for the travelling passengers, that'll really cost money for the employer, create sympathy from the public and doesn't inconveniance non affected parties ?, the logic of that question just was to hard to understand for those jokels.
Same could be done by the immigration officers @LHR, why not do your work as usual, pick out those with immigration paper issues, process them as normal, for those that get cleared after being checked out or only have minor issues like lost passports that can be replaced etc... let them continue their journey.
For the ones that have real immigration issues, stop processing them, don't send them back to their countries ,don't fine the airlines as usual ,stop further processing and after a shortwhile police will have to intervene and find alternate housing for them putting extra pressure on the government to solve the problem without inconveniancing the public and airlines too much.
kbrockman: 'I really like these kind of actions . When in dire economic times, best thing to do is to bite the hand that feeds you by striking thereby making the problem even worse.'
You could look at it the other way: the UK government is biting the hands that keep the country running, thats why those hands are going on strike.
Having said that, I believe the unions should wait until negotiations have run their course, and then , if necessary, call a strike. But I can understand the anger of public sector workers. Anyway, enough politics for one day...
Passengers at Heathrow airport could face 12-hour delays next week when immigration officers go on strike over pensions, airlines have been warned. The airport's chief operating officer Norman Boivin wrote to them to say there was a real danger of "gridlock". To relieve the pressure, he has asked carriers to cut their "load factors" by half on international flights arriving into Heathrow.
Can we presume that Mr Boivin will meet the airlines losses?
Basil am I missing something. why would the BAA reimburse the airlines ??? It was a mere suggestion to help the situation next week.
This is a UKBA strike and therefore it is the Govt that should pay up if anyone does.
Thats like saying an aircaft manufacturer and not the airline should pay compensation to the passenger because an aircraft goes tech for a considerable time ?
For gods sake , just declare heavy snowfall and shut London airports down for a day . Works every time. I just love giving advice to 3rd world countries , especially as I live in one near the equator !
thankfully we live in a democracy and those Civil Servants feel that they have a genuine argument and have no course of action but to go on strike. Peaceful protest is perfectly acceptable if your not happy living in a free democratic country then I suggest a move to China or Iran may be appropriate.
Yes it will cause people problems and indeed I will be inconvenienced myself as my childrens school will be closed and even if I was to go to work all the citys Metro drivers are on strike also. So I will have to take a days unpaid holiday but that I believe is a small price to pay in order to live in a democracy.
UI'm sure most carriers will continue to land with their booked pax load - up BAA to sort it out - after all, they're due one back from the airlines, me thinks!
With a lot of nationalities less good / patient at queuing as we Brits I can imagine, if things get as bad as BAA are hyping them to be, then it's more than likely that tempers will fray, and eventually impatient travellers will "gate crash" the border agency desks; added to which there will be disorder on flights where passengers are held on board. Will the police and security staff be able to cope with such disorder? I doubt it.
Frankly I wouldn't blame passengers is they did gate crash their way in.
Surely to prevent this happening the Border Agency should allow free flow of EU arriving passengers through the border (a la Schengen) for the day, and use what resources they have to offer a decent level of checks to non EU flights.
Simples! But I doubt that Theresa May nor her friends at the Torygraph, Mail and Sun would countenence such a sensible move.
As for the strikers, I suggest they join the rest of us in the real world, pensionswise!
Is it not a wholly conceivable idea that the major capitals with UK embassies and High Commissions can not use staff to pre screen pax!!! where is the BCP?
As for the strikers, I suggest they join the rest of us in the real world, pensionswise! - why should there be this race to the bottom in this country.
I have worked in the airline industry since 1986 and my wife has been in the public sector since 1988. My pension is no where near as good as hers will be when I retire but that needs to be balanced against a pay that has continually been behind that of the public sector. Now only a few years to retirement she is told she will loose thousands of pounds and have to contribute more to receive less (a pay cut in real terms). I do not know of many people in the public or private sector that would stand by and allow such a radical change to their terms and conditions. Remember this crises was not caused by your public sector refuse collectors, town hall cleaners, grave diggers, home helps etc, some of the poorest paid in society but by a greedy and unregulated banking sector and yet we expect them to pay by radically cutting their pay. Please lets stick to the facts and not behave the media hype about how well paid the public sector is.
So what do we do ...... every flight we send into LHR we are expected to deny boarding to half the booked passengers i.e. cut the loads by half ?? Hilarious.
Remember this crises was .... caused by ... a greedy and unregulated banking sector
I know the banks have been blamed for all sorts of bizarre things in recent times, but to stick them for the fact that people are progressively living longer and thus taking significantly larger pensions from the pot, really takes the biscuit.
The state of public pensions had become grossly unaffordable in this area, and politicians were progressively living in "Emperor has no clothes" land about it, long before there was any mention of any issues in some (only) of the banking sector.
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