Not a great fan of Unite and I think BA cabin crew are naive if they think BA is not in perilous danger of going under given the pension deficit and the fact that they cannot compete in cost terms with the the locos.
That said, WW has been spoiling for a fight with the Unions for some time now and his CV possesses the attribute of a former Union negotiator that management turned.
I think the imposition of new working practices arbitrarilly was bound to inflame opinion and raise blood temperature levels. I fail to understand when the Union was offering cost savings to match what the company was striving for, that the two sides could not have found a compromise. Intransigence of the highest order on both sides I would suggest.
The media spin game will now begin and it will be the end of BA CC unions if they lose as I suspect they will. It's a sad day when both sides are willing to risk the collapse of the National flag carrier through sheer bloody-mindedness.
Regards
Orion Man