BA vs manufacturing
There have recently been some very thoughtful posts, so I thought I'd add my comments.
One of the frustrations as a by-stander in this dispute is that many staff's attitudes at BA appear not to have changed much since they were in the Civil Service.
I worked in manufacturing for quite a while before I joined Aviation, - starting in Merseyside in the 70's. Back in the 70's it sometimes appeared that the TUs had most (but never all) of the power. As with a ball of string, they incrementally took more power from the managers/owners. We often wondered when we could get control of the ball of string!!.
-Paxboy - it's more like a ball of string, and who has control of it, than a pendulum.
Over time, we learnt that by and large, managers got the TUs that they deserved, and many in manufacturing began improving their managers, by both removing the bad ones and properly training their replacements.
Better techniques were introduced to both manage better technically, (MRP processes, Quality, Customer Focus and so on), AND to manage the people better. Manuf did stuff like PPF and STUCK with it.
So the REAL improvement was not a reduction in the TUs power base, but a massive improvement in the managers, and how they managed people. The TUs became less and less relevant to their members' lives, but they satyed as members for "insurance" purposes.
Managers began to manage folk effectively - and "firmly but fairly". For instance, BA's lack of control of sickness absence in the CC and in the Check-in desks has been non-existent until Willy came along.
Oldflyboy - until the last couple of years, BA has been completely unable to effectively man its CC berths as they had zero control of sickness. All they did was over-man the operation to compensate for outrageously high sickness rates. They had NO idea how to deal with Europe's 900 hour limit for CC.
These sorts of issues were resolved in most of manufacturing during the 80's and 90's.
No matter what BA do with TU facilities, and all that stuff, they will continue to have Bassa-type TU represntation until BA make a quantum leap in how their CC are managed.
If I were in Willy's shoes, I would want a complete and rigorous clear-out and/or re-training of those who can change, of the managers who've managed CC over the last 20 years.
Trublue - there will be no "sea-change" in BA IR until there is substantial manager-change, otherwise the old ways will quickly creep back in.
Stoic/Call100 - There are at least 4 camps in Unite. It makes Willy's task tough.
First of all, Mr. £200k+ Simpson and Mr Woodley hate each other. That's 2 camps. Secondly, Mc "I was never a "member" of Militant Tendency" Whatever is seeking re-election. That's the third camp. (He's the torchbearer for the "Broad Left" campaign, which includes the Militant tendency, Socialist Worker and etc camps).
The fouth camp is the local branch - and of course, that itself is split in two, with Amicus reps still hating the Bassa shower.
A couple of friends of mine are National Officers in the "fifth" camp in Unite - who are simply worried about the impact of the call for £700k on their membership numbers. Their members are more in the North than the South, and they regard the BA CC as very posh, very rich Southerners. Why should their branches cough up? (The Branches will cough up because the branches are mainly run by the "Broad Left".
Time to change the managers!!!