ld 12986
You posted that rather long monologue from a conspiracy theorist.....
As someone from a much bigger Co than BA, who has lived through real disputes, where people went on proper full time strikes and lost real money over real principles, - not this nasty, convertible BMW, PIMMS drinking petty dispute, at BA, I have to say that the procss that was outlined in that post was better than anything I've managed before! However, it is/was quite typical of what TUs and corporates do.
1. You know in advance that some very nasty people are involved in this dispute. You know about the bullying and intimidation because you lived therough the Gate Gourmet dispute, when Union reps were threatening people with physical harm. You know that there are pubs close to Heathrow where plots will be hatched to hurt people - both physically and mentally.. Note that the pubs are near Heathrow, not Southampton. You would suffer at least a broken leg to go in to 2 of these pubs, which are known to Special branch.
2. You set out to protect those who will help you. It doesn't matter one jot whether they are pilots or baggage handlers or cleaners. You WILL protect them.
3. You train a group of managers to deal with the fall-out. They are not special agents from the FBI. They are just folk who do their jobs - often for less money than the strike-leaders.
4. You block book rooms. Trying to make something sinister about block booking rooms is plainly daft. When you know the sh*t will be flying, NOT to block book rooms is daft.
5. You have already told the National Officials what you are doing. Woodley et al tell you to get on with it.
6. You are unable to talk to bassa, as they have formally told you that they
6. 1. will not talk/negotiate with you
and
6. 2 have formally withdrawn from most, if not all their agreements with you,and that they have, of course, withdrawn from the Facilities agreement.
I could go on, but is it worth it? I could tell you about how the T & G officials and members used to set fire to NUM coaches, and let their tyres down, as TUs do much worse than BA did.
I'm not going to convince the bassa lot, so I'll leave it.