BA Strike - Your Thoughts & Questions

[Diplome]

Courtesy of Welcome Aboard on the CC thread the latest communication from Mr. Walsh.

To All colleagues

The announcement by Unite that it will mount a further 20 days of strike action will have shocked our customers and many of you.
Sadly it comes as no surprise to those of us who have spent the past 15 months negotiating with Unite in a genuine attempt to reach an agreement.

It seems to me that time and again, Unite has shown itself to be a cynical and calculating trade union, willing to stretch the boundaries of truthfulness and integrity. I would like to set the record straight.

We have made significant compromises.

In a statement on Monday, Unite claimed that we had "rejected an approach by the union over the weekend". That is not true. I was available all weekend and there were no contacts made.

Unite has repeatedly moved the goalposts and is not interested in settling the dispute. The union knows our latest offer addresses all the concerns it has raised during 15 months of negotiations and that we have compromised many times in an effort to get a resolution.
Tony Woodley himself has said that our final offer "on many points represents an improvement".
During these talks, we have:

• offered the partial reversal of crew complements, despite a High Court ruling in our favour
• agreed to future promotions and transfers on current contracts for current crew
• given a written assurance about the allocation of routes and aircraft between fleets
• given assurances to protect the pay, terms and conditions for our current crew
• changed our position on pay to guarantee RPI rises for two years, on top of increments
• agreed to the return of staff travel to crew who went on strike, subject to certain conditions

I know many of you who came to work were disappointed that we moved from a permanent staff travel ban for those who took action. But a permanent ban will happen if the union engages in further strike action.
I do not believe the union is genuine when it says it wants meaningful talks to enable these strikes to be called off, especially in view of its plans for a fresh ballot to enable more strikes later in the year.

This is a fair deal and it remains available. There are no more compromises that we can make and we cannot lose sight of the fact these changes are to ensure our future sustainability.

Disciplinary proceedings

Contrary to media reports, no-one has been suspended for taking part in strike action.
Most of the suspensions have taken place following allegations from colleagues of bullying and intimidation. We are duty bound to investigate these, and the investigations are conducted under the company's disciplinary procedures, which have been in place for many years and are agreed with all of the trade unions, including Unite.
To date, we have concluded 30 disciplinary cases. Of those, five individuals have had no action taken against them and gone back to work; 15 have had written warnings and seven have been dismissed for serious cases of misconduct.

It is ludicrous for Unite to describe our disciplinary investigations as "victimisation".

Fantasy ballot

Unite has said that cabin crew have overwhelmingly rejected our latest proposal. I do not believe this is the case.
More than 70 per cent of crew came to work during the previous strikes.
The union’s latest online ballot was operated outside the statutory rules and the votes were not confidential. Cabin crew had to submit their name, staff number and union membership details when casting their vote. These were intimidatory tactics that I think were intended to deter crew from voting in favour of the deal.

You may question whether these are the actions of a democratic trade union keen to genuinely engage with its members and represent their best interests, or those of a small minority of people hell bent on destroying your company and your jobs. Please don’t let them.

This action will not be 20 days of strikes, and the union knows this. The "breather" days in between the four blocks of strikes serve no purpose for our operation or our customers. This is a 23 day strike in the run up to the World Cup, which will disrupt another school break and many other business trips and hard earned holidays. And just when the UK economy needs help to get back on its feet, Unite will deal it another blow.