Rather interesting watching this litlle contre temps from the far reaches of the Western Atlantic and what is playing out. More scenes on the stage than one can keep track of at one time. What I must (as a union card holder myself) admit to being an almost prurient fascination is the what I imagine to be the genisis of this problem at Waterworld.
1. BA aircrew that I know have told me for the last 2 years that they were not confident in the T5 preps.
2. Normal opening day snafues were compounded by a seemingly systemic lack of foresight and training which in the normal course of things management would try to pass off on the workers however this was not normal for...
3. I imagine the initial response was to try to rectify the situation while at the same time having the BA press management get on the horn to their counterparts in the print and video press to intimate that the problems are "morale" related and carry a whiff of the ever menacing threat from the slope-headed workforce that has choosen to work under a collective bargaining agreement.
4. Press starts to gear up the usual anti-slope-headed leader for the top of the fold coverage when all of a sudden the situation reveals it to be more serious and the editors at the Telegraph, Sky, and BBC realize that anti-slope-headed rhetoric may not be enough to cover the story.
5. It goes downhill fast and is no longer funny. Pax are discomfited and worse, their luggage is in the ether and they are losing hope and confidence.
5. Wee Willie, in a breathtaking display of hubris and not sure how to fit it in with his equally breathtaking ambition spawned from an almost pathological case of short-man's disease, "takes responsibility!" That is good. I can take it as well with a serious underlying difference. Wee Willie can look at those American titans of major foul-ups and warm the reaches of his heart. Stan O'Neal at Merrill Lynch saw a Merrill loss in value of 27.4 billion and walked away with a 120 million severance package. James Cayne from Bear Stearns walked with 38 million. Chuck Prince of Citigroup lost more money than I can type and walked with 26 million. Now if you can foul up Bear Stearns and still walk away with 38M then Willie is telling himself that yes, perhaps a Knighthood is slipping away, but no real responsibility need be taken as there will be plenty of lucre either way.
6. With this in mind, Willie reassures senior staff that in NO WAY would their severance packages, should it go really south, ever be affected since he has taken an amorphous "responsibility."
7 . Sky et al., banned from T5. Serious scramble to revamp story since the sullen staff angle is not working.
Never. Not once is the word "leadership" mentioned. It applied when the Greeks fought the Persians and it will apply as long as man walks the earth. We export a lot to the world from this side of the ocean but please do not let your CEOs start this "I take responsibility" line. They are doing nothing of the sort and instead such langauge really is a very biiter insult to the work force to who they are not providing leadership.
Last edited by Basil Seal; 29th Mar 2008 at 22:39.