Political yes but only due to proximity of the general election and the Labour funding from UNITE; next year, no-one will give a stuff! International no, we all know that this visiting of other unions is just posturing and game-playing given the laws on secondary picketing. It may feel to us CC, our families and our colleagues in BA, living through this hell, that its the most important thing but in perspective it doesn't feature that high for the rest of the world. Even on the a/c our British customers may mention it in passing but it has never been mentioned to me by anyone outside the UK.