Monday 2 August 2010

Air Strike!

Let's not forget, as we all disappear on holiday, the struggle of our British Airways brothers and sisters, victimised by ex-union activist turned BA CEO Willie Walsh, who has engineered a provocation in his ongoing battle to de-unionise his company and de-skill his workforce. (Oh yes, I meant to say hello to Willie, he's a regular visitor: 163.166.8.# (British Airways PLC))

Perhaps it's because he's Irish - he can't think in any terms other than Michael O'Leary's of Ryanair, a man I'd happily see swinging from a lamp-post.

I know lots of you think that the BA cabin crew have it easy (though being groped by drunk businessmen, being on your feet all day and trapped in a metal tube that shouldn't be off the ground at all isn't my idea of fun), but there's a principle here: that the pursuit of further profit at the expense of the workers is wrong, wherever it is.

As to those of you who've whinged that you don't have a union and don't see why anyone else should - shut up and sod off. We all need unions, and people in the private sector more than anyone. Form one or join one, and flex your collective muscles. Struggling as an individual a) is usually ineffective and b) any success is usually gained at the expense of your colleagues. I prefer to rise with my comrades rather than on top of them.

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