BA cabin crew have warned passengers they may strike over Christmas as talks to end the bitter dispute stall once again. There is a mass meeting of Bassa members on September 6 to decide on future action.
'It would be prudent for the travelling public to take this into account and make alternative arrangements to ensure their holiday travel plans are not wrecked,' said Duncan Holley, branch secretary of BASSA.
'What we are trying to do is give people plenty of notice this time round. We are also trying to put pressure on BA by hitting their bookings during one of the busiest times of the year.'
Bassa members are being suspended and sacked unfairly over allegations of bullying and intimidation during past strikes.More than 80 members have been suspended and 13 sacked after allegations of incidents related to the bitter dispute.
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Several points. Under Unite rules, BASSA cannot call a strike, only Unite can do that.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, Duncan Holley was sacked by BA and has had an initial appeal for reinstatement pending the outcome of an Employment Tribunal rejected. One cannot help but wonder about his motives in wanting to damage BA's revenue. Clearly, his statement is calculated to have that effect. The catch is that if BA's revenue declines, there will be even less money available for cabin crew, so any strike action is self defeating.
A mass meeting ? Hardly. The largest room at Kempton Park holds 750 people. Given that Unite has c10,000 members amongst the cabin crew community, this represents a mere 7.5% of them. Not very representative and decidedly not mass.
Finally, the UK has Employment Tribunals in place to provide individuals who believe they have been treated unfairly by their employer (or ex-employer) with some means of redress. If the 13 sacked staff feel that BA has dealt with them in an unfair manner, they should use this route. Any comrade who goes on strike to support these 13 is in danger of losing their job as such action would be directly linked with the previous dispute and there would be no 12 weeks protection as a consequence. Mr Holley appears to be endangering his members' livelihoods by his suggestions. Not the actions of a responsible branch secretary.