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.

A battle won

British Airways cabin crew have won their appeal against an ban on their strike action. They're fighting degraded working conditions and victimisation, and British Airways' only weapons are technicalities (in this case, how exactly the union communicates ballot results to its members), which the Appeal Court have rejected. BA will probably go to the Supreme Court, but in the meantime, the struggle continues.

Victory to the workers! And I'll have a glass of wine and a blanket please.

Meanwhile, the Tories and Lib Dems have shown their true colours by announcing that they'll privatise the Royal Mail. Because, obviously, when you need a fair, universal service, you give it to profit-making organisation which will reduce wages, staffing levels and service coverage. Brilliant. Rural folk can now look forward to not receiving mail, as a punishment for living in sparsely populated areas. Service in poor areas will decline, junk mail will increase, deliveries will get later and prices will rocket. Shameful.

This is Lawfare

An extremely unpleasant aspect of modern industrial relations is employers turning to the courts to prevent workers withdrawing their labour, despite overwhelming votes to strike. It's made easier by a set of 1980s union-bashing laws never repealed by the so-called Labour Party.

The British Airways staff voted massively in favour of a strike. BA has had the strike cancelled by the courts on a ridiculous technicality, a trap set by the Tories 20 years ago.

When balloting for strikes, unions should give those who took part a detailed breakdown of the result, as required by section 231 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.

The union's barrister, John Hendy QC, said the airline had not been able to find even one employee who did not know the result of the ballot, which voted overwhelmingly for strike action.

This is madness. The ballot was legal. Union members knew the results. In this day and age, a letter in the post isn't relevant: union members see their reps, check Facebook and read websites. 


The facts are these: every member was informed of the result. However, the fact that 11 (eleven) ballot papers were spoiled, out of the 10-12,0000 cast, was 'only' publicised on the union notice board in every workplace - apparently that doesn't count as 'notification', according to this one judge's interpretation. 


What we're seeing is simple union-bashing, inspired and directed by specialist US law firms dedicated to furthering corporate power. Yes, Unite should have seen this coming, but the fact remains: these kinds of laws breach the globally-recognized right to strike. No doubt my employer, and every other one, is learning that the courts (staffed exclusively by rightwing, male, white, upper-class, private school and Oxbridge judges) will always defend corporate interests.


I've just made an official complaint to the BBC about John Humphrys' interview with the union's leader on this matter - Humphrys clearly crossed the line and emotionally hectored Derek Simpson from the perspective of BA's board of directors, rather than making any attempt to be impartial or objective.