IT'S GOOD TO TALK!
Surprisingly, there actually have been some!
Last week, Unite were invited to talks with British Airways to try and resolve the dispute between us, these were held at the TUC (Trade Union Congress) Headquarters in central London.
The Unite side was led by Len McCluskey and Paul Talbot, Assistant General Secretaries, while British Airways’ was led by People Director, Tony McCarthy. TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, who has close ties to Government as well as both parties in this dispute, facilitated the talks.
In a positive attempt to move the situation forward we, the TU side, took the initiative and developed an initial proposal. We spent the majority of that time trying to achieve the difficult balance of protecting your future whilst, at the same time, delivering permanent cost-savings.
As yet, we have not been successful in achieving this; in fact we are not even close.
Hence, we had no other option than to commence our new ballot; the issues and concerns are still the same. There was absolutely no willingness to discuss, let alone remove the impositions that have now been in place since 16 November.
We provided British Airways with a realistic framework that would have allowed them to phase the return of the removed crew member to ALL fleets over a three month period, alongside a plan to achieve permanent and comprehensive savings over the short, medium and long-term.
Our comprehensive proposal was dismissed with a one line response.
We want to reassure you that we will of course continue to talk throughout the duration of the ballot. We will do all we can to try and ensure that you do not have to take part in industrial action, if we do it will only be because British Airways has refused to compromise and has no desire to reach an agreement, leaving us no other alternative.
In the spirit of openness and to show that we have nothing to hide, we provide you with both British Airways’ and Unites’ initial proposals for your reference; they are both reasonably self-explanatory.
Initial proposals from both Unite and British Airways - aimed at finding a long term resolution to our dispute at talks with the TUC last week - are available for you to view by clicking on the links at the end of this article.
It is important to point out that the British Airways booklet fails to address any of the items we are currently in dispute over and is in reality a
PR document, designed to sell their longer term strategy to introduce “new fleet” as a solution and way for you to keep your terms and conditions.
We suggest you read it carefully, along with the concessions that they say you would have to make, for them to accept our alternative and longer term ‘integrated crew’ approach. These concessions would not be necessary at all; they are simply a “precondition” applied by the company because they say they are, not for any legitimate reason.
Talks will continue during our ballot in an attempt to find a resolution to our dispute. We will not place any pre-conditions on possible solutions; we will examine all options including integrated crew / new fleet - if they allow for the removal of impositions.
You will see quite clearly that our position is both reasonable and realistic and has been prepared in a thoughtful, constructive and professional manner.
Despite BA’s massive provocation in drafting in other staff to try and break our dispute, we still wish to seek a resolution through negotiation. Industrial action is always a last resort but rest assured, one we will use to defend you if necessary and in a way that will minimize any so called ‘contingency plan’.
We urge Mr Walsh to truly put both you and our customers first and reach an agreement that prevents the risk of damaging our airline just to prove a point - it’s just not worth it.
As you will already be aware our union has taken the decision not to disrupt people’s Easter travel plans if we reluctantly have to take industrial action.
We are your union, you make the decisions.