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”
Gail Cartmail
RT @leftfootfwd: The BA cabin crew dispute: The view from the shop floor: http://bit.ly/gHNsM8
Jonathon James
Oh dear here we go again with the hearts and flowers number for hard done by cabin crew. You chose to take a job that has a lifestyle that is not 9to5. Nobody forced you. If you want a job that means you make it to the school concert, are around for family events etc, then don’t sign up as cabin crew.
Yes a company gets the unions it deserves and in the past BA management has been very weak at standing up to some of the more outrageous demands made by cabin crew. But the game has changed and so has the management. The CAA stats show that BA cabin crew at LHR are the highest paid in the UK. Yet for all this, the company hasn’t set up a programme of slashing cabin crew numbers. Yes, it reduced the manning levels on flights ex LHR, but only down to the levels that are being worked by LGW staff, which in turn were agreed with the BASSA and CC89 branches. It also offered large numbers of staff the opportunity to move from full time to part time as well as voluntary severance. No compulsion. So is this the act of a union bashing company ?
Indeed, the only move to reduce cabin crew wages came from the BASSA branch who wanted all cabin crew to take a 2.9% cut in basic pay so that the manning levels at LHR could be maintained and the LHR on board supervisors (Cabin service directors) who earn significant salaries – touted as being c£50k – didn’t have to work alongside their staff. It is entirely coincidental that the BASSA executive committe e and a large number of the reps are all Cabin service directors. So much for squeezing the workers whilst the fat cats prosper.
Climate of fear. Yes, there is one. It is perpetuated by the vitriolic rhetoric coming from the BASSA militants. I have seen cabin crew who were genuinely fearful of being seen in uniform on strike days. I have heard tales of insidious whispers by strikers against thos who decided to work normally. I have seen items on the BASSA forum where any who voice an opinion that is counter to the executive committee line have been hounded and vilified, in some cases by senior members of the branch. It is on record that the branch secretary was interviewed by the police.
The author states ‘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.’ Clearly flawed thinking. Firstly, if it is a secret unit a) how was the author aware of it and b) how would informers know about it – not very secret then? Moreover, covert surveillance indicates that the individual under scrutiny is unaware. So how did they become aware ? Wikileaks got any information on this ?? If BA dispensed with their normal disciplinary policies and procedures, why have Unite not used this as a cause for industrial action alone ? Why is it that they have no support from either other Unite members or other union members in BA ? If the sackings have been so twisted, why have none of those dismissed gone to an Employment Tribunal ?
Why would BA wish to bust a union that represents about 9000 of its workforce ? It is not in the company’s interest to negotiate individually with 9000 staff. It would be far too time consuming. Could it just be that the BASSA executive are beyond their sell-by date ? That what is needed is a branch that truly represents the workforce and is not so skewed toward the supervisory level. An executive that is more in touch with the commercial reality of running the business as well as the prevailing market conditions. An executive that seeks to work with management and use influence rather than being adverserial. Who recognise the value of negotiation and don’t call for a ‘show of hands’ from less than 10% of the members and take that as carte blanche to act with impunity.
There have been faults on both sides in this dispute, but going in to 2011 there are also some certainties.
It is certain that the deal on the table is not going to get any better. Successive deals put forward by BA have only got worse.
It is certain that in the event of a strike, that it will not bring BA to a standstill. There are more volunteers and more non-union crew now than before. In addition, previous strikes have shown that a significant proportion of the unionised workforce have worked normally. Depending on who you care to listen to, the number varies between 40 -50+%.
It is certain that the strikers will be worse off financially. Worst case is that they could be sacked.
It is certain that any strike will have precisely the same effect as those in 2010 did. In the words of Tony Woodley when asked what the stoppages had acheived, he replied ‘Nothing.’
It is certain that BA’s Mixed Fleet is here to stay.
It is certain that in all of this BA has never once indicated that it wished to unilaterally detrimentally alter the terms and conditions or basic pay of any cabin crew. The only group who have put forward such a deal were the BASSA branch.
Daniel Pitt
RT @leftfootfwd: The BA cabin crew dispute: The view from the shop floor: http://bit.ly/gHNsM8
M
Lol I’ve really missed these debates. Anyone else notice how consistently polarised such BA comment threads are? No-one seems to be occupying the middle ground – it’s either “Walsh is Hitler” or “Cabin crew are delusional”. I’d strongly urge both sides to stop being so self-assured and consider the possibility that, actually, neither party should be particularly proud of stance. If the either side has been so brilliant lo these past 2 years, once has to ask: why are we still stuck at square one? Also btw re one of Jonathon’s points:
“It is certain that the deal on the table is not going to get any better. Successive deals put forward by BA have only got worse.”
This is not true. The latest BA offer included a major climbdown by Walsh – at long last he agreed to reinstate full travel perks (with hefty conditions, but crucially including seniority) and to hand disciplinaries over to ACAS. This made the offer significantly more attractive than the previous proposals, and I personally think the latest deal was a good compromise and should have been accepted. But my view is irrelevant. As long as everyone remains so blinkered & radical we will not see an end to this dispute…
Nick Robertson
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