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”
Jonathon James
Bullied of Heathrow,
If the pay is poor, surely the answer is to seek employment that pays better ? The problem that BA cabin crew face is that they are the best paid in the UK. Not only that, they tend to exceed the rate of pay when compared to other roles in the hospitality industry. A receptionist for a 4* hotel in central London picks up about £18k max. Management roles pay up tp £30k.
It’s not a case of wanting to see BA cabin crew salaries get reduced, it is more about recognising that their pay is way out of kilter with competitors and the overall industry in general. Now that is fine for those who are currently employed on these highly preferential deals, but companies like BA cannot afford to keep on paying way over the top. Would you expect them to pay 30% more than other airlines for say, finance staff, telesales or HR people ? Somewhere along the line there has to be a dose of realism.
Jonathon James
John
you forgot
the finance staff
the sales force
the planners
the HR teams
the IT bods
the cleaners
…….
Personally, I think that it is somewhat disrespectful to attempt to put the condition of any groups of well paid workers in the same light as those who were rounded up and murdered in Europe under the Nazi regime. In the same way I would never dream of wearing a yellow star of David with the word BASSA on it as I think that is even more disrespectful to the millions of Jewish people who were wiped out in the Holocaust. Clearly, one BASSA member thought otherwise.
Mike Cowtan
Cabin crew did not know when they were well off. Far higher pay and perks than other airlines, some even have to pay for their own uniform. Try working for Ryan air or Easyjet. Now your perks have been taken away you are crying and hitting the public, without who you would not have a job. You all deserve to be sacked if you strike again, then try and get another job like a lot of people who would love your job, pay and perks before you chose to lose them.
Ronald Wilton
I used to fly BA .I will not ever use BA again. You just do not know when the staff will strike. I believe only a small minority wish to strike. The staff are snotty and have a dont care attitude. I now only fly with Virgin Atlantic where I have just come back from Florida. An amazing helpful, happy staff, who could not be more helpful and they get far less salary than BA stewards. I feel that I would sack them all and get new stewards. Hundreds would come forward to take their place for less salary. I bet they would not take too long to train.I use other airlines for short haul- you know they are going to fly.
I feel sorry with BA they have to put up with what seems to be an anti british union.
Frances
I found this website by accident, but would like to comment in any case. My husband is one of BA’s Gold Executive Club members. He has been a Gold card holder for many years. Like many full fare paying passengers in the premium cabins, he has taken pay cuts for three consecutive years. His travel itinerary and work load continue to increase and he often clocks up 60 hour weeks. He continues to fly BA for one reason only – to show support for the company, and for those cabin crew who work during Unite’s strikes. However his patience if finite and I suspect he will soon be yet another valuable passenger who abandons BA permanently. His response to the constant whining complaints of striking cabin crew – “Let them get out into the real world and see what conditions are like.” On a personal level, I worked for Air France for 15 years, and the rhetoric of Unite’s union reps is remarkably familiar! Plus ca change…….