After watching Willie Walsh answering questions on Sky news, I can only say how I am appalled at his answers and blatant disregard for crew welfare. I find it very disappointing, although i’m not entirely surprised at his apparent lack of knowledge regarding the rules for crew commuting to work. (what are his middle management actually telling him???) He is obviously so out of touch with his employees that he does not realise or even care that he is in danger of eclipsing Bob Ayling as the most detested of BA/IAG executives! His appearance on Sky has turned into the biggest rallying cry for this dispute so far. He clearly does not even want to try and understand the financial hardship forcing many of these crew members into a situation where they have no other option but to commute many hundreds of miles from a place of rest/home that they can actually afford, to do the job they love. All this coupled with him then defending a £2.4 million salary and conveniently forgetting the eye watering pay rises he and several other board members of BA/IAG have received over the last 5 years, it is no wonder the Unite union membership level is continuing to grow steadily every day this dispute goes on. The customers and the staff can all see how this dispute is affecting the business and damaging the image of BA as a good employer, yet Willie continued to dismiss and deny this obvious impact to the business. And alas, the division being created between the striking crew and those who are not partaking in the action will certainly last for years to come. And I would say that those other non flying-staff groups who are so very short sighted and silly enough to meddle in other staff groups disputes by volunteering to fly as crew during the dispute are certainly making a rod for their own back, just ask those who did it before!! People don’t forget things like that.
Only now under the threat of 7 continuous days of strike and more being planned, are BA starting to show tentative moves towards meaningful re-engagement in negotiations through ACAS. But his dispute is far from over and judging by the mis information, scare tactics and threats flowing out of Waterside in the last few days, I doubt very much that this is an honest attempt at brokering a settlement.
However the silver lining on these clouds, is the most comendable camaraderie and solidarity being shown amongst the supporters and activists of this dispute. Also, we have learned that striking crew will have about £35 per day deducted from their salary, while the Unite Union supports them with strike pay of £60 per day! Yes, they make more money from the very well supported hardship fund, while they strike! This just highlights the crux of this dispute.
In the face of some very heavy handed rebukes from managers patrolling T5, the check-in areas and the car parks for any crew member who publicly show signs or emblems of support, the level of support is only growing with more and more encouragement from the other fleets. Anyone can see this incredibly strong and galvanising solidarity will cause BA even more upset in the future, unless it is handled with extreme care and the attention it deserves. Currently BA are just fanning the flames of discontent.
KTF