British Airways - CC Industrial Relations & Negotiations
OK..stick with me here on my late evening ramble.
If there was horribly adverse PR to a strike
If Unite don't win a get out of jail card tomorrow,
If Unite start to understand that solidarity on the 22nd may well be questionable,
Can anyone see an exit strategy for Unite that:
(a) Saves face for BASSA/Unite.
(b) Gives BA the savings they are demanding.
(c) Avoids a Strike on the 22nd.
Because now the trains are rolling I'm b******* if I can see a way out of this.....
If there was horribly adverse PR to a strike
If Unite don't win a get out of jail card tomorrow,
If Unite start to understand that solidarity on the 22nd may well be questionable,
Can anyone see an exit strategy for Unite that:
(a) Saves face for BASSA/Unite.
(b) Gives BA the savings they are demanding.
(c) Avoids a Strike on the 22nd.
Because now the trains are rolling I'm b******* if I can see a way out of this.....
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Today on my way home from work, I suffered that wrath. My laptop wasn't charging and I had to stop off at PC World. I was on my cell phone to a friend who incidentally is also volunteering to work over the Christmas period like us, when a lady just turned around and shouted at me " You must be proud of yourself, my daughter is due to come back from Colorado and thanks to you we have no idea if and when she'll come home!"
Perhaps we need a badge saying 'I voted NO' for those sensible CC out there so that they can be distinguished from the sheep.
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I've had a few comments by pax - quite annoying when they are blaming you for a strike calling you ''mad'' and you voted No! Although I can understand why they are frustrated. I would be too!!
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Bring On The Strike!
COME ON GUYS LET'S STICK TOGETHER AND FOLLOW OUR UNION AND OUR MEMBERS.
We have come this far let's not back down now. I will be there on a picket line everyday. Not 24 hours a day everyday I do have personal hygene and other needs to attend to!!
Seriously let's stick together and ride this one out. The company WILL back down and we WILL win.
I know it's Christmas, why do you think OUR Union chose these dates? Maximum publicity, maximum disruption and maximum impact. They know what they are doing.
So what if we loose a little bit of money for 12 days. We will get it back. I promise.
I'll end how I started, BRING ON THE STRIKE and we WILL win.
CJ
xx
We have come this far let's not back down now. I will be there on a picket line everyday. Not 24 hours a day everyday I do have personal hygene and other needs to attend to!!
Seriously let's stick together and ride this one out. The company WILL back down and we WILL win.
I know it's Christmas, why do you think OUR Union chose these dates? Maximum publicity, maximum disruption and maximum impact. They know what they are doing.
So what if we loose a little bit of money for 12 days. We will get it back. I promise.
I'll end how I started, BRING ON THE STRIKE and we WILL win.
CJ
xx
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Business travel agents support WW and condemn Unite
CJ, you live in lala land.
Worst PR mistake ever. You have been led down the garden path by a leader who is using you for his own power struggle. Unite is openly criticizing BASSA. Division is present within the CC (see independent article). It is falling apart at the seems.
(I am not commenting on your right to strike or even the merit of your strike, but the way it is all executed.)
CJ, you live in lala land.
Worst PR mistake ever. You have been led down the garden path by a leader who is using you for his own power struggle. Unite is openly criticizing BASSA. Division is present within the CC (see independent article). It is falling apart at the seems.
(I am not commenting on your right to strike or even the merit of your strike, but the way it is all executed.)
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Do you think Willie might just think to hell with out and outsource cabin crew given all the headaches they give him? TUPE them all out to some joint Iberia / BA thingy so he has comfort in numbers and then go to work on all the Ts and Cs until he gets the workforce he needs for the costs the airline can afford.
While Ts and Cs will transfer on day one of the transfer they then become fair game for change - and the new outsource company (European Cabin Services perhaps) would have no existing union agreements to adhere to.
His patience must run out soon.
While Ts and Cs will transfer on day one of the transfer they then become fair game for change - and the new outsource company (European Cabin Services perhaps) would have no existing union agreements to adhere to.
His patience must run out soon.
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I'll end how I started, BRING ON THE STRIKE and we WILL win.
The war for hearts and minds never started. Unite never got out of the trenches. The public are set against you and backing WW.
If Unite had chosen, say, strike from 3 Jan to 15 Jan it would still have impacted on BA's profits but would have had a lesser effect on the public. The Xmas dates are purely to headline Unite and make them look as though they fight for their members.
You are being used big time.
Regards
Vino
(over 30 years in the aviation world, seen it, got the Tshirt.)
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Lizanne Malone is on the front page of tomorrow's Daily Mail (see slide 3):
The Papers: National Newspaper Front Pages On Thursday December 17 2009 | UK News | Sky News
The Papers: National Newspaper Front Pages On Thursday December 17 2009 | UK News | Sky News
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COME ON GUYS LET'S STICK TOGETHER AND FOLLOW OUR UNION AND OUR MEMBERS.
We have come this far let's not back down now. I will be there on a picket line everyday. Not 24 hours a day everyday I do have personal hygene and other needs to attend to!!
Seriously let's stick together and ride this one out. The company WILL back down and we WILL win.
I know it's Christmas, why do you think OUR Union chose these dates? Maximum publicity, maximum disruption and maximum impact. They know what they are doing.
So what if we loose a little bit of money for 12 days. We will get it back. I promise.
I'll end how I started, BRING ON THE STRIKE and we WILL win.
CJ
xx
We have come this far let's not back down now. I will be there on a picket line everyday. Not 24 hours a day everyday I do have personal hygene and other needs to attend to!!
Seriously let's stick together and ride this one out. The company WILL back down and we WILL win.
I know it's Christmas, why do you think OUR Union chose these dates? Maximum publicity, maximum disruption and maximum impact. They know what they are doing.
So what if we loose a little bit of money for 12 days. We will get it back. I promise.
I'll end how I started, BRING ON THE STRIKE and we WILL win.
CJ
xx
You have no more courage of giving your real details than I have of winning last weeks euro lottery. I'm willing to bet a weeks wages you won't be on the - thin - picket lines on Tuesday either.
HiFlyer
It wasn't my post re University and IR but I know the one you mean and can I give you my take on the really big picture?
I spent some time in the early 70's at one of our more Left wing Uni's and witnessed the antics of the Left ( and I mean the Left, as in the Communist Party, International Marxist Group, Trots, the odd Maoist, Judean Peoples' Front ) from close range. One thing I learned very early on was they are very good at rabble rousing and getting the barracades manned (literally) by the rank and file Union members but they were never, ever, present at the scene of the crime, they let some poor schmuck take the wrap in the cells overnight
whilst they continued plotting for Class War and world domination ...
Fast forward 30 years and you've got Unite, whose top hieracy are similar age to myself but unlike me have an interesting background in the ultra left, mentoring the BASSA Reps. IMHO I reckon some at Unite see BA as a prime target, and are only too willing to use some ,how shall I put it, politically unaware members of the workforce to claim another capitalist scalp. BTW the pictures of some of our Cabin crew members appearing as heros in Socialist Worker did seem somewhat incongruous but at least it made me chuckle.
So IMHO there's one explanation - BASSA and the Cabin Crew are being used by Unite to claim a high profile scalp, and frankly Unite and their senior Reps don't give a stuff about the consequences to BASSA as a Union or the individual member as long as they "get" Willie Walsh.
Sorry I've gone on, good luck, I'll get my coat.
wiggy
edited to add: and a Labour voter....until B.liar...
I spent some time in the early 70's at one of our more Left wing Uni's and witnessed the antics of the Left ( and I mean the Left, as in the Communist Party, International Marxist Group, Trots, the odd Maoist, Judean Peoples' Front ) from close range. One thing I learned very early on was they are very good at rabble rousing and getting the barracades manned (literally) by the rank and file Union members but they were never, ever, present at the scene of the crime, they let some poor schmuck take the wrap in the cells overnight
whilst they continued plotting for Class War and world domination ... Fast forward 30 years and you've got Unite, whose top hieracy are similar age to myself but unlike me have an interesting background in the ultra left, mentoring the BASSA Reps. IMHO I reckon some at Unite see BA as a prime target, and are only too willing to use some ,how shall I put it, politically unaware members of the workforce to claim another capitalist scalp. BTW the pictures of some of our Cabin crew members appearing as heros in Socialist Worker did seem somewhat incongruous but at least it made me chuckle.
So IMHO there's one explanation - BASSA and the Cabin Crew are being used by Unite to claim a high profile scalp, and frankly Unite and their senior Reps don't give a stuff about the consequences to BASSA as a Union or the individual member as long as they "get" Willie Walsh.
Sorry I've gone on, good luck, I'll get my coat.
wiggy
edited to add: and a Labour voter....until B.liar...
Last edited by wiggy; 16th Dec 2009 at 22:08.
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Sorry, CJBrown - it's your union - lots of us have resigned/are resigning now.
I will see you at the picket line - I'll be the one crossing over it to do the job that I was employed to do:
I am BA cabin crew, and the above represents my own view and not that of BA. And not that of BASSA either. I'm not sure if there are many left that do represent the BASSA view other than CJBrown.
I will see you at the picket line - I'll be the one crossing over it to do the job that I was employed to do:
SERVE CUSTOMERS
I am BA cabin crew, and the above represents my own view and not that of BA. And not that of BASSA either. I'm not sure if there are many left that do represent the BASSA view other than CJBrown.
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Here are the results of The Daily Mail's digging:
The BA comrade out in California: £50,000 a year union activist who lives in LA and hasn't flown for a year | Mail Online
The BA comrade out in California: £50,000 a year union activist who lives in LA and hasn't flown for a year | Mail Online
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I think Walsh should be the person to worry. This is all his masterplan; Operation Columbus inc New Fleet. Why didn't he impose on the 30th June as he threatened? No he deliberately let it roll to the 16th November, so that when the inevitable response from the union was declared, the timing of the ballot and the notice of IA, would cause a strike to be initiated over Christmas. He accuses the union of being cynical, but he thought the cabin crew would baulk at striking over this period. He gambled and lost.
Was there ever going to be a negotiated settlement? If you can impose, you never need to talk to the union again. Everything else will simply follow: New Fleet, Disruption Agreement changed, Hourly Rate, 14 four day trips will go 3 day. Imposition is the prize; it is union busting. This is what Walsh, as an ex-union man, was appointed by the Board to do.
It is UNITE's turn in court tomorrow and with the huge majority plus the allegation of BA not giving over the list of VR's to the union, UNITE should win. But nothing is certain in a court of law. As far as the length of the strike; it would never go 12 days. After just three days there would be such unbelievable mayhem, that the government would have to step in due to the public disorder. The problem is dealing with someone like Walsh; you cannot fiddle around with the odd one day strike every three days. It had to be something that would grab his attention.
Let's face it, as an IALPA rep dealing with imposition from an Aer Lingus management, it is exactly what Walsh would have done himself. Remember he once said: "that in negotiations, you get nowhere by being reasonable"
Was there ever going to be a negotiated settlement? If you can impose, you never need to talk to the union again. Everything else will simply follow: New Fleet, Disruption Agreement changed, Hourly Rate, 14 four day trips will go 3 day. Imposition is the prize; it is union busting. This is what Walsh, as an ex-union man, was appointed by the Board to do.
It is UNITE's turn in court tomorrow and with the huge majority plus the allegation of BA not giving over the list of VR's to the union, UNITE should win. But nothing is certain in a court of law. As far as the length of the strike; it would never go 12 days. After just three days there would be such unbelievable mayhem, that the government would have to step in due to the public disorder. The problem is dealing with someone like Walsh; you cannot fiddle around with the odd one day strike every three days. It had to be something that would grab his attention.
Let's face it, as an IALPA rep dealing with imposition from an Aer Lingus management, it is exactly what Walsh would have done himself. Remember he once said: "that in negotiations, you get nowhere by being reasonable"
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Trouble is, that Mail article is extremely damaging to ALL BA CC. Those reading are going to think every single one of you is coining it in.
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Right BA peeps,
I want £100 from each of you to help the GSM crews who have just lost their jobs.
If you want to show solidarity cough up.
PM me your name. No money taken until we have 100K in pledges.
I want £100 from each of you to help the GSM crews who have just lost their jobs.
If you want to show solidarity cough up.
PM me your name. No money taken until we have 100K in pledges.