I am a member of Ground Staff and would just like to add my two pennyworth!
1. I cannot, and will not, accept the argument that BASSA Trades Union Reps are troublemakers or "nobodys" who have become "somebodys" by attaining the position of Shop Steward. That is downright libellous! Why does anyone become a Shop Steward? - it's a thankless job, being moaned at by members who think you aren't achieving enough, and by management who think you are asking for too much! You get the blame when someone you are representing at a Disciplinary gets the sack for being caught with their fingers in the till etc etc. I'll tell you, people become a Shop Steward from a genuine desire to help their colleagues and make a difference.
You get called in on your days off to help when a member screws up and swears at a manager or gets caught trying to steal duty-frees from the aeroplane. You continually get calls from members bitching when a manager or supervisor tries to break an agreement - once, I remember, when I was on the beach in Bournemouth with my children! Repping is not for the faint-hearted!
Have you ever attended a meeting between British Airways' management and the Trades Unions? No? Until the present hard-nosed Broughton/Walsh combination, the management and union reps worked very closely together and, notwithstanding the odd dispute here and there, jointly achieved a great deal.
The most noteworthy achievement was in the fallout from 09/11 when the TU reps approached Rod Eddington and offered temporary fixes to help muddle through the crisis - we even stood outside the Houses of Parliament to obtain cash to help the British Aviation Industry. Without that union obtained cash, those who so despise the unions would have no job today!
This Broughton/Walsh combination were brought in to deliberately break the unions and that is exactly what they are seeking to do, using the recession as an excuse. Why else would Walsh reject out of hand the unions offer made 9 months ago to help temporarily for the duration of the downturn? He insisted any changes would have to be permanent.
Our Trades Union Reps, to a man, (even BASSA) are reasonable people - they are not militant. The truly militant Shop Stewards were hoofed out a few years ago. I would dearly love to know exactly what the "Restrictive Union Agreements" that Walsh keeps harping on about really are, because as far as I know, all the "Restrictive" stuff disappeared with the "T5 Agreement".
What does fill me with disgust is the thought that people who are so "holy" that they don't believe in Unions (usually because Daddy or Sugar Daddy gives an independent income and the person doesn't really need the job at BA) gets all the benefits that are negotiated by the Unions. In my opinion, non-union members should have to go cap-in-hand to management and negotiate their own deals - with Willie Walsh, I suspect I know how far they would get!
2. I don't believe in calling a strike at this stage, unless BASSA is backed into a corner. Apart from the blindingly obvious inconvenience to our non-deserving customers, I rather suspect that a strike would (a) result in Cabin Crew, many of whom are personal friends, losing jobs as the teams of "pool crews" Willie has created are brought in to operate services and (b) a strike would possible dewstroy British Airways for ever!
3. A strike would place us Customer Service people in a very difficult position. Secondary action is illegal, but I would have great difficulty in knowingly checking-in or boarding passengers on to an aircraft manned by what wouljd effectively be "scab-labour". If I refuised, British Airways would have the right to sack me for refusing a legal instruction and if I worked, I would be acting against my principles. Quite a tough decision.
4. The deal done with BALPA left our pilots with their Terms and Conditions almost intact. (I have been corrected here and await full details of the agreement) Those who drive an Aston Martin to work will still be able to do so and can look forward to a nice fat share option in a couple of years. It is a diabolical insult to the Three Front-Line Groups to expect us to sit back and accept lifestyle changing contractual changes. This deal with BALPA doesn't mean, asnd shouldn't mean, that we have any axe to grind with the pilot community - they managed a reasonable deal, good luck to them! However, just because the pilot community has sorted out a deal, that does not give them the right to tell the rest of us to accept a metaphorical scythe slicing throuh our contracts!
5. One of the major sticking points is that BA wants to include a clause of "Total Flexibility" when they refuse to define what they mean by that. If you're happy to be sent home today for two days, but called back in on your rostered days off, then fine - but some of us have families and busy lives to organise.
As far as I am concerned, the only way out of this mess (which effectively gives a massive pay cut to all of us - whether 40% I don't know, but at least a 25% cut) is for Willie Walsh to be removed from office. I hope, against hope, that there will be a vote of no-confidence called for at the Shareholders AGM - the first one in our history where a Question and Answer session has been refused - and that the shareholders do the sensible thing.
One thing I suspect is that, whatever the outcome of this horrible Broughton/Walsh created mess, British Airways will never be the same company again!
..........and we need our Trades Unions as never before!
Last edited by bealine; 11th Jul 2009 at 12:19.