British Airways, Unite and Common Sense

And so it happened. The BA strike by Unite's Cabin Staff was inevitable, even to the casual observer. Where did the common sense go? BA cabin crews are well paid by all other aviation standards. Up to twice the pay of others doing the same job. They get serious perks, like free travel once per year for them, and their family, anywhere in the world that BA has a service. Why would anyone want to jeopardise that? Those Unite cabin crew strikers just forfeited that terrific perk! Why? Are the Unite members just playing follow the leader? 


When the talks broke down, just hours before the strike was due to happen, both Tony Woodley of Unite, and Willie Walsh, BA CEO, came out to talk to the media gathered from around the world. They both 'regretted' the strike. They both said they were 'ready to talk at anytime, and any place' but there was no more talking. Someone wasn't telling the whole truth. They both sounded as if they had tried everything to avert the strike, but that can't be true. Both men, and those behind them, have a lot to lose, like reputation. It has become more than a money thing now. It is a stand-off between two men. Two opposing personalities, who sound so much alike, but are poles apart.


Reminds me of the school playground again. Everything (well almost everything) can be reduced to human nature's basic principles. These men are having a playground fight, and they are both at the point of throwing the toys out of the pram, or in this case grounding the airline, possibly resulting in permanent harm to the thing they say they are trying to protect. Again, someone is not telling the whole truth. BA is losing money, and both say theirs is the only way to make it more profitable. One of them is not telling the whole truth.


I think it boils down to this. Willie Walsh wants cuts to let his company make MORE money. Tony Woodley wants his members to get MORE money, but without the same cutbacks. I think the key is the word MORE. One wants more for his shareholders, the other wants more for his members, and NEITHER wants to meet halfway. That would mean a climbdown for one of them, with the humiliation it would bring. It's basic human nature, and the company can go to the wall, for the sake of a man's reputation.


Another way to look at the word MORE is to think of it as GREED! It used to be said that this was the underlying principal of the success of the 'free enterprise' system. Not any more. Apparently the union Unite have adopted this strategy for their own too. Isn't greed one of the deadly sins? Yes I thought so. In the words of the old Scot in the TV series 'Dad's Army', 'Doomed, we're a' doomed laddie'! How true.