Words of wisdom
The TGWU general secretary, Bill Morris, has apparently said with reference to the BA dispute that "almost all industrial disputes eventually end in compromise" - therefore there's no point in starting a war about clock cards as both sides will have to come to terms in the end. Compare and contrast the position of the GMB...
Certainly, the csa's have a point about the danger of getting casualised. But simply being asked to clock-in isn't the crack of doom. I've done a lot of jobs, and one that sticks in the mind was in the crown prosecution service. There, we were on flexitime. Originally, recording was on paper. The paper log bore very little resemblance to the number of persons in the office at any given time. Then a clock device was installed. Things didn't change much - there were still a large number of people who were usually 70hrs+ in debt on their flexy, but this did not apparently mean any less money! (By the time I left I had assembled a flexitime credit of 102 hours by the simple expedient of turning up on time.) Was this sensible?
Speaking of sense, though, BA showed very little sense in picking high summer to have a row with front line staff. Mr. Eddington seems to have taken the attitude of a turn-of-the-century sheep station boss - There'll be no bloody union on my land! - and now can't be seen to take off his cowboy hat. BA's response to the strike was suspiciously poor - no management showing themselves out front, even if they couldn't do the job it would at least have looked better - were they perhaps trying to maximise the drama so as to bully the staff? And the split between the unions involved is frankly childish. Barrie Clement in today's Independent points out that the GMB recently began a recruiting drive - perhaps the reason for their hard line...