Open Letter in Daily Mirror
Dear Mr TightSlot,
There is talk in the CC Forum BA V Bassa about a possible retabling of the last offer by BA. Perhaps you might like to post the following:
The Daily Mirror: "Willie and Woodley in their own words"
Chief executive Willie Walsh has called on Unite to put BA's latest offer for crew to its members.
In an open letter to Unite's joint general secretary Tony Woodley, published in today's Mirror (March 30), Willie said: "Ten days ago, before the first strike, we put a fair and sensible offer to Unite. The union rejected it — without consulting crew. Give your members a voice. Let cabin crew vote on the offer put forward."
Tony Woodley's response, published alongside Willie's letter, refers to using the two weeks to find a solution before the earliest that another strike could take place.
Both letters are reproduced below in full, unedited.
Dear Tony
Unite’s strikes have failed to ground British Airways.
We are flying more than 75 per cent of our customers to where they want to go and well over 60 per cent of cabin crew are turning up for work.
But that does not mean we want this dispute to go on.
British Airways cabin crew are rightly renowned for their skills and professionalism. We want a settlement that is fair to them and sensible for our business.
This airline is enduring a second year of record financial losses. We cannot go on like this.
We have to change our ways of working if we are to survive in the long-term — and provide jobs not just for crew, but for the thousands of engineers, baggage handlers, pilots, customer service staff and other groups who make up this airline.
Many of these groups have already contributed to the drive to make ourselves more efficient. Cabin crew cannot be an exception. Most crew realise this – which is why they don’t support strikes.
I believe we could resolve this dispute very quickly. Ten days ago, before the first strike, we put a fair and sensible offer to Unite. The union rejected it — without consulting crew.
So I say to you: give your members a voice. Let cabin crew vote on the offer we put forward.
It includes a four-year deal on pay — with a freeze in year one then rises of up to three or four per cent. Our existing crew would stay the best-rewarded in the UK industry.
Even though the courts say we do not have to, we have addressed Unite’s main demand for more crew on flights. We would recruit 184 extra staff.
The offer also paves the way for new long-haul opportunities for Gatwick crew, who would like a bigger network and are paid significantly less than their Heathrow colleagues.
And it sets out a plan to modernise our industrial relations so we can avoid this kind of damaging dispute in the future.
One of many myths in circulation is that I want to break the union. This is nonsense.
I have never been anti-union. I am a former union negotiator myself. Our offer makes clear that we would continue to recognise Unite to represent not just existing crew, but new crew employed in the future.
I have great respect for you. I know you don’t want more strikes. I know you want a settlement.
You and I may have different views on this offer. But surely the most important views are those of the crew themselves.
Unite’s officials and shop stewards have been holding closed, private conversations for far too long. Let the membership have a say, Tony. Put the offer to the vote and give peace a chance.
Yours, Willie
Dear Willie
No one can now doubt the strength of feeling among BA cabin crew.
I have been proud of the solidarity they have shown over the past week in standing up for their right to be treated with dignity by their employer.
The company has been hurt.
Both British Airways' image and its bank balance have suffered because the company did not listen to what its own employees were telling it — and then act to avert the disruption.
We don't want to cause further grief to the travelling public. That is why I believe common sense now demands that Unite and BA get around a table and thrash out a deal that satisfies both parties.
There is common ground. We accept that British Airways needs to cut costs to survive.
Tens of thousands of Unite members at British Airways — including cabin crew — have said they are ready to do their bit to keep the company flying.
Crew have offered more than £50 million in savings and BA want £10 million more — far less than it has lost as a result of this dispute.
But staff want to be treated with respect. Imposing radical change is no way to treat dedicated and professional employees.
Cabin crew have real fears about their future. Above all, they are anxious about the company's plans to bring in a "new fleet" of crew hired on lower pay and worse terms.
The company has said it will protect the pay of existing cabin crew. But they want assurances — not just fine words — that they will get a fair shake in the distribution of routes going forward.
Where you fly and how often is a core part of crew's working lives, and seeing the plum jobs handed over to cheaper staff as fast as the company can manage is not acceptable. But I believe we should be able to thrash out a formula which allays those concerns while accepting management's right to manage.
The other sticking point is your determination to punish those men and women who have stood by their union in this dispute by taking away their travel concessions.
In many cases, cheap BA flights are essential for crew to get to work, never mind for any other purpose. Can you really mean to inflict a lifetime's punishment on staff who you yourself say are good cabin crew?
Industrial statesmanship means drawing a line under the rancour.
Surely you should not be putting unnecessary obstacles in the way of rebuilding morale.
Unite has already promised not to strike over the Easter holiday period. We will keep that promise. That gives us two weeks to find a solution before the earliest that another strike could take place.
Let's use this strike-free period to establish what we all want — getting British Airways a platform for permanent prosperity.
Yours, Tony