It is easy to forget that the British Airways cabin crew dispute is about real people's lives; here, Left Foot Forward presents the testimony of a BA employee.
The British Airways dispute is often portrayed as a battle of wills between management and union bosses, glossing over the fact that people’s livelihoods and lives are at stake. On the day that union members meet for the first time this year, ahead of the next strike ballot which closes on 21 January, we hear from a longtime BA employee on the effect on their life; they have asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals
Cabin crew are a disparate workforce varying enormously in terms of age, race, class and nationality. We don’t know each other. We meet each other for the first time at the pre-flight briefing and after the trip, largely never see each other again. For many of us, attending a union meeting is the first political action we have ever taken. And British Airways cannot understand why 91% of the workforce is unionised, why at every ballot, between 81% and 92% vote to strike and how the union managed to realise that unprecedented degree of solidarity.
There is one simple answer: A company gets the union it deserves.
So for a management fixated on its own cabin crew being the overpaid, under worked, indolent, thieving entity that stands between it and an even greater increase to their personal bonuses and share options, there is also one simple answer: destroy the union.
In pursuit of this quest, British Airways has engaged thoroughly in every principle of union busting, including the creation of a climate of fear among the workforce in an attempt to undermine confidence in the union’s power and its ability to protect and to chip away at the workers’ resolve.
BA created a secret intelligence unit with the specific remit of gathering evidence against striking cabin crew and have actively encouraged staff to inform. They conduct covert surveillance and having dispensed with normal policies and procedures, threaten, suspend and dismiss crew in unprecedented numbers with apparent impunity.
I was one of the suspended cabin crew but am now sacked. I am a single parent, have a good degree and have worked for them for more than ten years. I earned about £27,000 per year. I love my job and always have.
Some of the very best days of my life have been spent on trips with crew who though a bunch of strangers are among the warmest, most dynamic, creative and caring people I have ever known. I may not have always been there for the school play and have had to juggle madly like all working parents with the added difficulty of being away for days on end and doing it all through a haze of chronic jetlag. But my working for the airline has afforded me and my family some incredible experiences.
I have always enjoyed the actual work; the meeting the passengers and making a difference to them, however small. I care about them. I respect them. And it is because of this that I believe in my union’s aims and actions.
Being sacked from BA means not just the loss of my livelihood but also my entire way of life. I don’t know who I am if I am not BA cabin crew. And being sacked is one thing, but being sacked on trumped up charges heard by a kangaroo court as a pawn in a political game is quite another.
It’s actually not, not yet anyway, the how am I going to pay my mortgage that keeps me awake at night. It’s the lies and the injustice and the powerlessness. It’s the moral outrage that I play through my brain on a continuous loop all day and night as though if I run it once more the outcome might be different.
In taking on BA, we cabin crew take on the British anti-union labour laws and the courts, we take on union busters and one of the biggest legal firms in the world, Baker McKenzie. In continuing the fight we expose ourselves to the unbridled vitriol of a largely right-wing press. Our own management will undoubtedly continue removing benefits, making threats and stepping up their campaign of dismissing those who do not yield to their brave new world order.
Prior to this dispute, BA cabin crew may not have been political animals. We are now.
96 Responses to “The BA cabin crew dispute: The view from the shop floor”
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Nick Howes
Hey Roger- I don’t consider Cabin Crew overnights as perks, but, since I met my first group of BA crew in Bombay in 1979 at the Tower bar of the Taj Mahal hotel, it has been plain that both aircrew and cabin crew have been pretty well looked after. Tell that to your average sailor, soldier or airman in the UK armed forces and ask them to compare it to the normal tent that they are given. Please don’t use the “they signed up for it” argument, because absolutely the same applies to BA cabin crew. Also, compare the salary of our junior Service people to the £27000 pa quoted way back in this thread and you’ll find a great variation in the consideration of relative worth.
areal flyer
ive flown for over 18 yrs with ba . and have many fond memories of the ups and downs of being cabin crew . we all strive to provide the service that has been installed into us over the years . but i have to say that the last 2 yrs have been very sad in that all we do is try and do our jobs to the best of our ability . and we get shafted from all quarters .this dispute came about because of the crew member being taken off the flight . but we all know its much more and the main reason then was the fact of a new fleet starting with dreadful terms and conditions 11000 pounds a year and 2.40 pounds flight pay . all fully taxed. even tesco employees get more . the hard work and loyal team of cabin crew now feel totally put out to pasture and the company have no respect for any of us . yes some are paid high rates . for 35 yrs service and more . but the majority now are only paid a fair and just pay for the hardship we have to endure . nights out of bed . lost family gatherings and endless sleep depravation . yes we did choose the job but to pull are pay away . would you not try and fight . the new fleet created is taking all our work away albeit slowly but eventually . there will be nothing left . then what ??? we have no guarentees or proper wording of what shall become of us . so fight . yes you bet .
thebupster
RT @leftfootfwd: The BA cabin crew dispute: The view from the shop floor http://bit.ly/hV7ptR
julie dearlove
My Husband has been a cabin crew for 16 years, or should I say a firefighter, cooker, lifesaver, firstaider, waiter, cleaner, lying apologiser, housekeeper, counceller, policeman, childminder, wheelchairpusher, restrainer, nightshifter, dayshifter, computerer, coffeedrinker and a lovely dad to his kids…
He also hasn’t just got a job, but a life style that may envy some of you… However having him “hanging” in the house for a couple of days before he resurfaces from jetlag and night flights makes me wonder how anyone would consider his job to be a great one unless he is exceedely well paid for it… and he is not…
His daughter was really looking forward to be like her dad, but he kindly expained to her that his job has now become a gap year job for all concerns…
BA’s recruitments criterias are not as hard as they use to be, and I have some very good proofs of that, as he and her have kept records of their respective recruitement campains, and I won’t mention the pay and conditions…
The basic BA net salary of my husband is £17.000/year and whatever is added to that goes to pay for his expenses, so yes, he is on holiday all the time if he only brings back his basic pay… But by staying in his room and eat sandwiches, he brings a bit more than that, around £23.000… Thank god!
17 years ago, he could have made it in another business but pledge to start a career with the world favorite airline, “the familly airline”…
My husband deals with conflict all the time, and the biggest one he had to deal with lately was the BA brand… He fears not only for a possible 35% pay cut but for his customers that will pay even more for a lesser care…
This is an unprecedented attack on a workforce that highly values their Customers and Company… As far as the employees are concerns, I will just have to accept the lucky fact that he has a job. Therefore I should leave a bottle of cheap sparkling wine in the fridge everynight for us to drink until the revolution begins…
Happy flying!
JD