So now the Iberia dispute enters the strike zone. Everything is going plan for Willie Walsh. The Iberia unions can clearly see the tactics deployed against them are the same as against the BA cabin crew. Obfuscation, goal posts moved, the bar set impossibly high, the lack of sincerity to reach a negotiated settlement with the unions. And amongst all this angst, the poor passenger.
It used to be that a strike was a failure of management. That customers would be driven away to competitors and thus if at all possible, avoided. With Walsh no such consideration is of any concern, whether he is locking out employees at Aer Lingus, flying empty yet fully catered aircraft during the dispute at BA, or whilst the show of riot police clashing with Iberia employees goes on. Spaniard pitted against Spaniard. A very sad spectacle indeed to witness.
And yet where is the support from the BA flight crew for their Spanish counterparts? We have seen how BA's pilots worked like emissaries of Beelzebub during the cabin crew dispute, fuelled as they were with share options. Yet a senior BA pilot pontificates on this forum that Iberia must be made "an investment vehicle again". And at what cost Wirblesturm? It is fine for BA flight crew, many of whom have an income in excess of £250,000 a year, to judge the situation at Iberia. But the current conflict is not about money, it is about breaking the Iberia unions and getting to new contracts. So whilst Wirblesturm may feebly invite Iberia pilots onto BA contracts, the fact is if Iberia flight crew lose this battle with Walsh, the new contracts they will be forced to return to work on, will be grossly inferior to those enjoyed by BA's pilots. Of course not long after that, it will be the BA flight crew joining their colleagues at Iberia on similar contracts, which is the most likely scenario.
Karma is a wonderful thing.
Last edited by Count Niemantznarr; 20th Feb 2013 at 07:55.