BA Crews and 12 days of Christmas (strikes)
BA Cabin Crews have voted to go on strike over the Christmas period against the threat of reducing staffing levels through imposed redundancies and changes to staff contracts. 90% of the crews, on an 80% turnout, voted for the action. There’s some fantastic rhetoric flying about this morning on Radio 4. BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh was reported to have said that the union shouldn’t bother going on strike, it should concentrate on helping the company reduce costs.
Of course the union might well have been in the mood to do that, but it wasn’t asked to help out. It was simply bypassed. And now, though Walsh claims to be available for talks at any time, he has said that the central issue is not up for negotiation. So the union is absolutely correct to go on strike; this is not a case of simple costs it is now an attempt to de-recognize the whole union. I was pleased to hear that Unite has offered the cabin crews strike pay for as long as they are out.
In their honour, I decided to subtly amend the lyrics to “The 12 Days of Christmas”. No doubt, being a completely untalented lyricist, someone will come up with better words to fit into the correct spaces, then the Unite workers can print it out and have their very own union-Christmas themed pickets. For those of you who enjoy this sort of thing, I also recommend this.
On the first day of Christmas
My union sent to me
Willie Walsh hung from a tree.
On the second day of Christmas
My union sent to me
Two pension schemes
And Willie Walsh hung from a tree.
On the third day of Christmas
My union sent to me
Three ballot cards
Two pension schemes
And Willie Walsh hung from a tree.
On the fourth day of Christmas
My union sent to me
Four rule book nerds
Three ballot cards
Two pension schemes
And Willie Walsh hung from a tree.
On the fifth day of Christmas
My union sent to me
Five pilots wings
Four rule book nerds
Three ballot cards
Two pension schemes
And Willie Walsh hung from a tree.
On the sixth day of Christmas
My union sent to me
Six staff a-staying
Five pilots wings
Four rule book nerds
Three ballot cards
Two pension schemes
And Willie Walsh hung from a tree.
On the seventh day of Christmas
My union sent to me
Seven chiefs’ wages’ trimmings
Six staff a-staying
Five pilots wings
Four rule book nerds
Three ballot cards
Two pension schemes
And Willie Walsh hung from a tree.
On the eighth day of Christmas
My union sent to me
Eight red flags waving
Seven chiefs’ wages’ trimmings
Six staff a-staying
Five pilots wings
Four rule book nerds
Three ballot cards
Two pension schemes
And Willie Walsh hung from a tree.
On the ninth day of Christmas
My union sent to me
Nine bosses leaving
Eight red flags waving
Seven chiefs’ wages’ trimmings
Six staff a-staying
Five pilots wings
Four rule book nerds
Three ballot cards
Two pension schemes
And Willie Walsh hung from a tree.
On the tenth day of Christmas
My union sent to me
Ten board members weeping
Nine bosses leaving
Eight red flags waving
Seven chiefs’ wages’ trimmings
Six staff a-staying
Five pilots wings
Four rule book nerds
Three ballot cards
Two pension schemes
And Willie Walsh hung from a tree.
On the eleventh day of Christmas
My union sent to me
Eleven journos hyping
Ten board members weeping
Nine bosses leaving
Eight red flags waving
Seven chiefs’ wages’ trimmings
Six staff a-staying
Five pilots wings
Four rule book nerds
Three ballot cards
Two pension schemes
And Willie Walsh hung from a tree.
On the twelfth day of Christmas
My union sent to me
Twelve pay hikes coming
Eleven journos hyping
Ten board members weeping
Nine bosses leaving
Eight red flags waving
Seven chiefs’ wages’ trimmings
Six staff a-staying
Five pilots wings
Four rule book nerds
Three ballot cards
Two pension schemes
And an ab-so-lute vic-tor-y!
On a more serious note, the article posted at the Guardian is utterly preposterous and without merit. It suggests that BA staff are likely to find themselves on dole queues through their own fault, because the strike is the “ultimate kamikaze action”. Surely it’s the bosses who are performing said action by going out of their way to attack the union and staff terms and conditions, not to mention plenty of jobs? Why, in these fucking liberal papers, is it never the bosses doing the kamikaze stuff?
There’s more than enough evidence to point that way.
“Why, in these fucking liberal papers, is it never the bosses doing the kamikaze stuff?”
Indeed. Reminds me of the RMT London Underground strikes. Rather than emphasising that RMT were striking in solidarity for employees who were going to be sacked to recoup costs due to the failure of Metronet, which was completely a management failure and nothing to do with ordinary workers.
Of course, that got no coverage. All we heard were reports of the “unreasonable” and “selfish” union holding London hostage, and repeat emphasis of the fact underground train-drivers get considerably high salaries (£40K).
Such is Thatcher’s legacy though, I guess…
It saddens me how few people see the need for solidarity.
Actually if you look at the Facebook group, it’s picked up over a thousand members in under 24 hours. Whilst such a geographically disparate group is pretty much ineffective for demonstrative purposes (til it gets a lot bigger), it’ll be useful for getting the message out.
What disappoints me is quite the opposite – not that there is no solidarity, but that the solidarity is not cultivated and put to some use by the people in charge of the strike.