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”
Peter
Cabin crew must understand how futile a further strike would be. There are now enough fully trained volunteers backed up by the supremely professional New Mixed Fleet crew to operate a full LH schedule and an almost full SH schedule … Just what is the point of another strike. BA has won this dispute long ago with crew compliments cut with no effect, mixed fleet crew on lower salaries introduced and expanding quickly and a huge group of volunteer crew from all areas of BA ready and waiting to back BA. The vast majority of BA staff will not allow the militant minority of crew to inflict futher damage on our company .. Our customers should not panic .. they will see no effect if a stike was to take place.
Barney
Errr hello Nick – I think you may have been mistaken about BA crew staying at the Taj Mahal hotel in Bombay in 1979 …. at that time they stayed in the less salubrious Oberoi Towers on Nariman Point. IF you are going to slag an honest group of workers off perhaps you would like to get your facts correct?
By the way, the reason that BA (and most other major airlines) put their aircrew up in good standard hotels is the pure simple fact that with an average 24 hours off and being constantly under the influence of jet-lag, and often working long days (in the 1970’s the BA route to Bombay often involved a transit stop en route making it a 12 hour working day!) it is to the company’s advantage to have well-rested crews to take over their next flight. BA used it’s negotiating powers (often block-booking 36, sometimes 72 rooms per night) to do amazing deals with hotels who were glad to have that number of rooms booked on a regular basis 7 nights a week!
Meal allowances? Oh yes, the amount of allowances paid reflects the local economy – so that’s about £30 a day in India then for three square meals in their ‘luxury’ location. Slightly more in places such as Hong Kong and Tokyo but only comparable with the cost of eating 3 meals a day in their hotel.
BA cabin crew have signed a contract with BA to receive a certain level of renumeration and the company agreed a set of operating levels and procedures with the unions that the company now wants to rip up which is going to affect the working conditions, time off and rest periods at home of each one of the 12000 workforce. You expect them to have change imposed upon them without a fight? Get real!
Walsh has turned a largely professional customer orientated loyal workforce into a group that is fighting for its very existence. The airline will become a low-paid high charging carrier with little experience in the cabin due to the high turnover of staff. IF you want to escape from an aircraft after an accident or you suffer a heart attack at 38,000 feet who would YOU rather have looking after your interests? Someone with 25+ years experience or an individual of tender years with 18 months experience who are about to leave the job because they simply can’t afford to stay in for a long term career?
I know who I’d rather have looking after me…. Beware of the Walsh/Broughton legacy – long after they have gone BA will be suffering, or more than likely they will be taken over and the UK’s national carrier will be Virgin.
For all of those who think that this dispute is about a militant group of workers hi-jacking their union you couldn’t be more wrong. There is another ballot for industrial action about to be published – my guess is there will be another 85% vote in favour of taking more industrial action on a turnout of about 80% … so that’s about 8160 militants then? Wow, that’s some achievement for BASSA! Get real people, look at what’s happening within BA and don’t think it couldn’t happen to you in your job – it can and it probably will if BA win this long dispute as there is simply NO protection for the workforce in employment law.
Steven a foust
The BA cabin crew dispute: The view from the shop floor: It is certain that the deal on the table is not going t… http://bit.ly/eKmWcw
Justice Peace
I read these comments with interest. It seems that many people on here are wrapped up in hating BA Cabin Crew for the percieved perks they have. Yes they stay in nice hotels, but by no means the most expensive, and what would you have them eat while they are there… pehaps a few bites of the street delights in Deli…and then see how effective they are at giving 110% customer service. Be reminded before you start attacking them for these things, that for the majority fighting to keep these ´perks´ they were given them in the employment contracts they signed. Yes they miss the school plays, holidays and birthdays and of course they did sign up for that, but when you engage that argument remember they also signed up for the hotel, rest hours, food allowence and all the other things that allows them to be the best cabin crew in the air! Yes ok, when looking at them in contrast to soldiers, the cabin crew of BA are fortunte, but a lot of us, if not all of us that remain in the UK away from battle zones can be considered lucky. And if you really want to have that argument, why not look at investment bankers, football player, reality t.v stars and all those professions which earn the real big bucks. You don´t think of those because all the while you are enjoying the benifits you don´t need to compare them to the soldiers at war. But i´m betting, No.1 on our armed forces mind in the overpayed list would be the men of the premier league.
Now back to the real issues, leaving comparisons behind. Kangaroo courts; i´m sure the ignorant and there truly are some commenting on here, believe that truth and justice are at the heart of the panels deciding the fate of hundreds of BA Cabin crew. But that just is not true. Let me assure you, evidence is being manifactured and trumped up charges are certainly being brought. Look at the numbers of those being suspended and sacked, then look and see how many of them are loyal staff without so much as a bad mark to their names with many years worth of fantastic service in the air, AND surprise surprise the old contracts. Make no mistake these people are being phased out because they have the backbone to stand up and fight for the job that they SIGNED UP FOR.. They are not asking for more, they are not asking for a raise or more of these supposed perks … they only want what they signed up for. Mr James, you say they have been given the ¨opportunity¨ to go from full to part time.. Well that can only be considered an opportunity should the staff want to work part time. Many of them cannot afford to and when they decline this ¨opportunity¨ they too are faced with bogus charges much like the fate of some of their peers. You can´t tell me that isn´t bullying. As for the ¨insidious whispers by strikers against those who decided to work normally¨ i happen to know many cabin crew as personal friends, both those who decided to strike and those who didn´t. And between them there certainly has not been this feeling. Of course there is confusion and fear, but fear mostly comes from the power source and in this case guess who is fuelling the fire.
Furthermore with regards to the secret intelligence unit. You are of course right Mr James, can´t be very secret if its known about. Well thats the thing.. they BA Bosses like to think they can play James Bond but really they are more wallace and gromit. Some of the intrusions include photographs from outside the homes of BA Cabin Crew from rental vehicles and well other not so conspicious acts of ridiculousness. This is a complete invasion of privacy. They definitely are not playing fair. You yourself Mr James make a very flippant statement about strikers getting fired. In what day and age does standing up in union action allow the Big boss to punish you with sacking you?
As for the arguement that why has nobody gone to tribunal. I believe there are a few brave cabin crew members trying to go to tribunal. So watch that space.. The evidence is certainly mounting against the dictatorship that is BA managment, and the house of cards will fall. It is only my sincerest hope that when it does, the great staff of BA will not be too tired to rebuild what once was a great company.
p.s i would also like to add that if Virgin took over BA it would be a crying shame. Although i have nothing against Sir Richard or his merry band of airhosts and hostesses they really do not have the experience, class or customer service that is regularly delivered by the long time leaders of the skies.
Chris
I am an occasional flyer. I would simply observe that when
I make a booking I realise that weather and emergencies may disrupt
my travel plans but in other respects I wish to minimize the
risks of disruption to travel and lost luggage and I will do
my best to avoid airports and airlines where the management and/ or
workforce do not place this high on their agenda. This places BA [and LHR] way down on my list of preferences and I’ll only use them if the alternatives are restricted.
As for general remarks on industrial relations, an agreement or contract should be binding until renegotiated and I see no reason why unions and managers should not agree to compulsory arbitration.
If an employee has legal conditions of employment and does not like the conditions, they are free to look elsewhere. If a manager gets a ridiculous salary and bonus then that should be a matter for shareholders and for government legislation.