It will be interesting to see if Walsh is able to split the Iberia pilots and cabin crew, or whether they stick together and support each other. Walsh's tactics are now well rehearsed. Capitalise on poor market conditions, spike in oil prices or other "turbulence" to threaten your workforce that their jobs are at risk, unless they make major concessions. Even if your airline has made a fantastic profit the year before, show a record loss the following year and then sell that to a gullible workforce, as evidence that these reforms are necessary to save the airline. Those employees who do swallow the pill, get them to act as your foot soldiers by enlisting them to ridicule other employee groups who hold out, and even act as strike breakers.
I was surprised how easy it was to turn BA's pilots against the cabin crew. Just £13m worth of share options was enough to do it, at a time when the company was supposed to be hard up. It is going to be a long time before those shares are worth more than the paper they are written on.
Over the years, BA invested a lot of money in programmes such as Putting People First amongst others so numerous I have forgotten them. Then along comes a CEO who turns all that corporate psychology on its head, and sets employee against employee. Who was right? Having a happy workforce all pulling together, or one that is split with an embedded loathing of each other. You only have to witness posts by Handsolo and others here, to see the legacy of Walsh. A destructive and divisive CEO, who has failed the shareholders of BA and now IAG. One dividend in ten years and a share price on life support thanks to BANKIA.
Taxi!
Last edited by Count Niemantznarr; 9th Jan 2013 at 15:17.