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”
Rob
Has anyone flown with Qatar Air, Asiana or Korean Air? Sorry, but the standard of service in Business Class with these guys makes BA look like McDonalds. If BA crew are supposedly the highest paid in the industry, there is something wrong, and they need to improve before thinking about striking.
Jonathon James
Ahhh Barney… if only the numbers stacked up. The last published figures for union membership indicated that the BASSA branch had dropped by over 1000 to just 9000 members in August 2010. The Amicus based Cabin Crew 89 branch was around 1700 back in February, but this has also declined. A highly optimistic figure would be that 7000 would vote for strike action, but when it comes to the crunch only around 4,000 would walk out. BA would have 8000+ cabin crew who would be working normally, augmented by whatever volunteers they have trained.
Now I can quite understand cabin crew striking if BA were putting them all on new, less beneficial, contracts. Trouble is BA are doing no such thing. Yes, the company is recruiting staff on lower starting salaries and different terms and conditions to the existing crew, but where is your evidence that they will force existing staff onto these contracts ? All that I have read suggests that BA have stated they are not looking to change existing staff terms and conditions.
Barney
Rob, the standard of service on the airlines you quoted may well be better than BA’s – but I suspect that the service is given with far more staff than BA currently provide on its aircraft. From my experience Singapore and other far eastern airlines used to crew their aircraft with up to 22 cabin crew – BA have only had at most 16 cabin crew on their 747’s and that is now down to 14 with one less cabin supervisor.
There is another variable here – just what the company is prepared to offer by way of the ‘product’. BA have for some time now been cutting back what it provides for its customers. A choice of 3 main meals in Club? Don’t make me laugh – when there are 70 customers the number of meals loaded totals about 74….. on many occasions if you are at the back of the cabin you get a second option at best, if not a third or basically ‘what’s left’!
In first class the amount of food loaded is once again minimal – the cheese portions wouldn’t even satisfy Jerry the mouse and they now ’round trip’ wine in first class so the 5 bottles of claret that once lasted one sector serving up to 14 passengers now has to do a round trip serving two flights or up to 28 passengers. Middle and far eastern airlines would never lower themselves to do that as they pride themselves on offering ‘service’ – something that BA’s management lost sight of many years ago. The old mantra that ‘you should never refuse a premium customer anything’ has long disappeared from BA’s training manuals!
It is difficult to compare like with like…. especially when one company is run by a cost-cutting regime (except that doesn’t reach as far as their perks and bonuses of course…).
Jonathon, from your desk in Waterworld I have no doubt your figures may well be more up to date than mine (but probably includes the non-union ‘volunteers’ that so enjoy playing at cabin crew but will only realise how used they’ve been when they lose their day jobs as they are not ‘missed’ at their desks….) but the percentages still hold and we’ll both have to wait and see what figures the present ballot produces – my information is that the more rubbish Walsh throws at the cabin crew community the stronger it grows and many of those who worked through the previous strikes are now re-joining the union and want to take action this time around.
BA will not force crew on the old contract to sign the new contract but they will constructively try to force this issue – crew on the new cheap fleet who do not get paid overtime, meal allowances or extra long range payments (they get a flat rate £2.60 or something per hour they are away flying) will obviously be chosen to fly on the long range routes as they will do so for several hundred pounds less than crew on the old contract. Therefore those who remain on the old contract will be losing several thousand pounds a year from their salaries (which incidentally BA quote in full, including flying allowances, for anyone requesting a salary quote for a mortgage – so BA DOES consider allowances to be a part of the salary ‘package’…).
What we will no doubt see is that people who rightly insist upon remaining on their present contract being used on less lucrative flights whilst the premium routes (from a customer service perspective) are operated by the cheaper less experienced crews – it is the operation of a madhouse.
My guess is that the last few remaining on the old contract (who incidentally are barred from future promotions as these will only be given to people on the ‘new’ contract…) will be sitting at home on their basic salary being given only a few days work a month. Now, if THAT makes economic sense then the world truly has gone mad…
Many contributors to this forum clearly do not know or understand the reality of what is going on within BA. I would urge them to seek a greater understanding of the perspective from both sides before spouting some of the more venomous words that I have read here recently.
One final comment – clearly this issue is NOT about a major cost saving exercise to save the company from financial ruin (caused in part by the management team paying up to £1bn in fines and compensation for the illegal cargo and fuel surcharge cartels that they were involved in, the debacle caused by the opening of Terminal 5, constant equipment and systems failures etc etc). First the cabin crew community were told by Walsh to save £40m pa, that figure rose to £60m, then £80m topping out at £140m!! BASSA offered temporary cost savings of £120m through agreement changes but BA turned the offer down – IF it was all about saving the company from financial ruin Walsh would have grabbed this offer. No, it’s ALL about removing the trade unions from the scene within BA. BASSA is NOT a militant union, they have been involved in discussions with the company for many years resolving amicably many of the problems between the two groups. THIS dispute is ALL about doing away with the trade unions. BA’s cabin crew are basically a non-militant group of caring workers – what you are seeing is people who have their backs to the wall fighting back against a dictatorial regime who hasn’t the guts to come out and say what its policy is. This dispute is going to continue until the bitter end – one thing is certain, BA will be the loser as ALL goodwill between management and staff has flown out of the window and BA has relied upon that goodwill in the past to keep the operation going when the management have yet again screwed things up (by not employing enough cabin crew to work the peak summer months, not ordering enough equipment or services to feed its customers etc etc etc). Things within BA will never be the same again…..
W.W
I am crew of 20 years plus…and still have 20 plus years till I retire..that’s dedication to a company, wouldn’t you say?. But somehow I don’t think there will be a gold watch coming my way, or any other crew member for that mater. I was suspended in summer in one of B.A’S undercover strike busting campaigns and may I say I was ‘OFF DUTY’ AND OFF B.A property. As for kangaroo courts they certainly do exist as I have experienced them too. I will be striking to protect my future and the future of B.A…….PERHAPS THE DAILY MAIL READERS SHOULD FLY ANOTHER AIRLINE as they clearly are so easily won over by the very ‘controlling powers that be’ that are trying to pull the wool over our eyes. Maybee a little credit were credits due…KTF
Peter
Barney.. Your words BA will certianly be the loser. Since this dispute started BA have cut the crew compliments. They have all new staff recruited on much lower rates of pay. They have a huge group of fully trained crew volunteers. … and BASSA have achieved ???