The events of 1978-9 appear to be repeating themselves, first the militant Unite calls strike for BA staff and now the RMT union is threatening rail strikes. Yet again like in 78′ overpowerful militant trade unions are ruling the country.
I have no support for the BA strikes at all and I am disgusted by the behaviour of Unite representatives who are trying to pin all the blame on BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh. They are claiming he is being ‘unreasonable’ and blaming him. The militant union bullies are the only ones to blame. We have just come out of the worst recession for decades so Mr Walsh is sensibly saying there will need to be cutbacks as BA is in a very fragile state. But the greedy, already vastly overpaid cabin crew think they are hard done by and the militant unions are bullying BA threatening these unjustified strikes.
Willie Walsh has worked tirelessly to avert the strikes the ONLY ones who have been unreasonable is the militant unions. I think it is time we had further legislation to restrict the excessive powers of trade unions or better yet banned them altogther replacing them with non-political representation bodies that are barred from having party political links.
Be warned The Summer of Discontent is coming to a service near you Summer 2010.
The economy is fucked and its partly down to zanulabour who want this country to end up like zimbabwe
Precisely, this is what I am talking about when it makes me so mad when small-minded Liebour supporters harp on about the Conservatives in the 80s acting like Labour came along and saved the country. Labour inherited (NOT created) a very stable balance sheet in 1997 and in 1979 Margaret Thatcher inherited a broken nation destroyed by a Labour Government. So Labour supporters always ‘remember’ the 80s and they just selectively forget the 70s under Callaghan. I wish people would stop ‘remembering’ and think about the damage this Government has done since 1997 and the future. I find it unbelievable there are people that want 5 more years of reckless, wasteful spending, lies, lies and more lies, an even bigger national debt and they want to let Labour keep destroying our country. People need to stop living in the past and move on and look at the present and the future.
I think BA unions are being insane on this one and I am a member of a union.
They are shooting themselves in the foot, 30 grand is a lot of money for what they do.
I agree completely, it is an easy job a trained chimp could do, it is not worthy of such an excessive salary and that is the bottom end, so called ‘Cabin Service Directors’ aka ‘the head cabin girl/boy’ are on £55k nearly as much as some doctors and solicitors, it is scandalous. As Willie Walsh has proven they are so easily replaceable as he has crash-trained a handful of pilots and ground crew to cover them, they are not irreplaceable like pilots. The unions need to live in the real world.
Train drivers are on very big money as well, easily 30-40K
for fucks sake!
Totally, it is because of militant unions these relatively low-skilled manual jobs are paid so much these days, it is outrageous. In Birmingham there was one council paying binmen and road workers massive bonuses bringing their pay up to £60-80k in one year. I can live with public money paying just large salaries to very highly skilled professionals like doctors, solicitors and scientists, but not low skilled manual jobs. Jobs should be paid proportionately.
seriously about the binmen? thats fucking outrageous!
fuck this labour government.
The moss issue might just bury that bastard callow and his paedo acolytes
This actually doesn’t really have much to do with Callow as he is not on the planning committe. I just wish people wouldn’t be so pulled in by Marsden’s faux pas because I’m not.
Its a last ditch attempt by that slob to hold his (toilet) seat.
The gazette has reported another pack of lies about civil servants striking,ITS NOT ABOUT PAY.
Its about the reduction in the value of the exit scheme when you are made redundant.
Christ that paper is shite!
I wont be striking btw.
Don’t tell me Harold that you are one of these civil servants,no wonder the country is fucked,with all you civil servants to pay, Mrs P worked part time in the civil service when our children were born, every time I rung up to speak to her she would be on a tea break, dinner break, shit break,or and the amount of jokes she new when she came back from work was astonishing,and lets not forget the 2 newspapers she also used to read. How much actual work do you civil servants do on a average 7.30 hr day? what with flexitime, holiday pay, sick pay, maternity leave and as if these benefits were not enough you then you go and fucking retire or get voluntary redundancy with a nice lump sum and index linked pension,its a piss take,you don’t know you are born. and now they want to go on strike,lets get some more Polish staff employed by the agency’s to do the job or better still lets offshore the work to India and have some intelligent graduates doing the job.We would save a fortune,I wish I had my life all over again,as I would choose next time around to become a civil servant or a council employee,and to think you took the piss out of our Bill who also just happened to be in the Civil service until he decided to take VR. Sorry about the rant but my but my annual pension statement from NPI has just dropped through my letterbox, I cannot believe how little it is worth compared to what I contribute every month into it. I tell you the public sector rules these days. Oh I forgot its weekend I must go to work now,I a property to view at 12.00 welcome to my world,do you have to work unsocialable hours in the Civil service?,no I did not think so.
Dave,its important to point out the civil service is a large and diverse entity, just like the cabbie business.I can assure you that its not like that where I work.My wife works in the dole office, she has to deal with scum who abuse threaten , piss and shit in the office on a daily basis,I would love to see an mp or MD of a big business hack that for a week,it would fuck their heads in.
I work in a commercialised part which I envison will be made private in the next 5 years.I have no issue with that.I am a fully qualified accounting technician,I could earn 10 grand more in the private sector but that would mean travelling to preston, I stay for the pension.Agreed its good but it comes at a price, current earnings and career development.I work 8 hours a day, and we dont get bonuses either unlike the private sector, an allusion to Siemens which took over premium bonds,gives out BONUSES.
When it comes to criticism, I am the very critical of the civil,there is enormous red tape which I find frustrating, especially in the field of IT, where we are tied into contracts with RIP OFF COMPANIES like HP who provide crap IT.I too pay taxes and want to see VALUE FOR MONEY.Its all down to one thing: GOVERNMENT.
We need a change, fuck labour off.
The current financial mess was not carried out by the public sector but the PRIVATE SECTOR,the BANKSTERS aided and abetted by ZANULABOUR,who are spending like no end.Dont forget to criticise the bankers who are still getting BONUSES , with OUR MONEY ,for fucking us up and putting us ALL in MASSIVE DEBT.
I deplore waste and I find it frustrating to see waste, again thats GOVERNMENT for you;especially LABOUR.
I have worked in the private sector as well and seen some pretty shoddy management there, CONTINENTAL IMPORTS was one example.
Fianlly I wont be striking either, I didnt on the previous one;its pointless.I would rip out the red tape and change the procurement side there as the taxpayers alliance suggests.I would also scrap DIVERSITY and EQUALITY officers who are a waste of space and money.Yes reform is needed I agree.I would scrap DLA as a benefit and MEANS test it.
At the end of the day its all down to GOVERNMENT.
GOOD BYE LABOUR.
I still don’t trust Cameron though.
The unions are a big con. Do they care about anything that happens if it’s not for a big public service where they have a lot of members? Do they fuck. And when not having taken any action about the sort of practices the vast majority of workers have to put up with and which inevitably creep into where they are concerned they suddenly think striking is a good idea and that all those they didn’t care about should agree that this is what should happen.
BA works in a global industry. It can’t unilaterally give far better pay and conditions than other airlines forever. Willie Walsh knows that and so do the superpaid union chiefs – Unite has two chiefs one paid £200k according to the Telegraph (subject of a legal dispute) whilst he lives in a £800k grace and favour house, the other paid £122,108 in salary and benefits with again a grace and favour flat in London (Gordon gets just under £133k for running the whole country). Unite has around 2 million members in mostly very low paid jobs.
The purpose of the unions is to stir up trouble to justify why their members need to keep paying their subs. There’s always complete and utter tosh about salaries earned in the private sector that bare no relation to the real picture and everyone gets wound up and unhappy with their lot.
BA cabin staff are overpaid, too full of their own importance and too thick to realise that this strike jeopardises their jobs. They even think that foreign support is “sympathy” action. No thickies – they want you to strike and cause the closure of BA because it makes their companies and members more secure.
Dave, couldnt agree with you more mate,Queen street, now thats a dosshole,lets not forget the benefit family underclass, like the politts,yusufs and the mgrawleys as well who make it their career choice to live off the state.We need protection from those that abuse the welfare system.
I totally agree Frustrated and I am a member of a UNION.
Excellent comment Frustrated, the most laughable thing of all is seeing these union barons acting like they are all ‘working class’ when really they are all like John Prescott, they earn more than the PM, they live in massive houses and live in luxury. BA cabin crew are being very silly. When BA goes bust because of their arrogance and greed, they will whinging when they are all in the dole queue and Unite will palm off all the blame on Willie Walsh, the unions and the greedy staff are to blame noone else.
Unite is commitingsuicide here,as for sh(j)ags prescott, he is a disgrace to the male species.TOTAL WANKER.
None of these strikes will get public support.
If everyone wants to strike, why not strike about bankers getting bonuses out of our money?
or the waste of public money by this inept goverment?
Harold,we need protection for people down on there luck,which could happen to anyone of us,But it should not be there to abuse,they should impose a time limit and offer retraining in something worthwhile,but some of the shit I see outside the job centre are just scum,some of my friends can go out all day to work for £30.00,this is less than the minimum wage,but they are to proud to throw the towel in, and go on job seekers allowance, where they would be much better off,there is something wrong with the system were it is better to not work than work,no one should receive benefits for doing nothing.We should have them working in the community,lets see how many then decide suddenly to find a job.Casing point, just have a look down Queen St during the week and see how many are sat in the bars drinking,first thing I would do is stop there benefit,if they can afford to smoke and drink then we are giving them to much,and they are not actively looking for work,they should just have enough to cover the essentials,food, heating,rent and only for a limited period. I tell you it makes my blood boil.
Spot on Dave the system is open to abuse, just look at the sponging benefit families in the area who keep producing kids but puit nothing into the economy.I know of one ex mate who gets 300 quid a week for being a “carer” for a kid with slight autism;he could do a days work but refuses to retrain or learn a trade, it sickens me to the gullett.
He sits on his arse all day,chain smoking,dealing on ebay and uses his kid as a cash cow,the kid goes to school like any other so he could work,something has to change
BILL LEWTAS FOR PM, HE WILL FORM THE BEST CABBIENET THE ELCECTORATE HAS EVER SEEN!
more discontent, UAF scum again!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8577777.stm
Out of 67 people arrested, at least 55 of them are UAF, doesn’t surprise me. I was in Liverpool the other day and a guy randomly shouted ‘UAF off our streets’ in the middle of the city centre at someone with 2 police officers stood nearby who were giving him some funny looks.
UAF are scum ,marxist scum
Weyman Bennett has benn charged and is a PAEDOPHILE, like the rest of the UAF scum.
UAF deserve to die of CANCER.
The thing is TB both the unions and the labour party have aligned themselves with this marxist/thug rabble, total disgrace if you ask me.They are nothing but nulabours boot boys.
You forgot to add the BBC – they mentioned arrests but not just how many from each side so that it sounded like both were generally troublemakers.
I agree completely the reason Brown and Liebour won’t take any action against these unjust strikes is for fear of upsetting their millionaire friends in the unions. The most Brown will do is say ‘The strike is wrong’ to the papers, then he will turn to his union friends and say ‘Don’t worry I’m on your side, I’m just keeping up appearances for the election, wink wink’.
Yes the BBC is a PC marxist slum as well.
Last night I read in the paper these RMT represented rail signallers are earning an average £50k!!!!! Why are such low-skilled jobs so excessively paid? I wish Unite would stop calling BA management ‘bullies’. The only bullies in this saga are the militant unionists
I have to say what the civil servants union is striking over seems reasonable, to me anyway. Harold has said that if he went into the private sector he could get 10 thousand more he doesn’t because of job security, pension and if he is made redundant he would get a good payout. Now the government is getting rid of the job security by planning to get rid of lots of civil servants and they are going to destroy the payout before they do this. So in essence they have not paid the market rate for their employees because of job security and redundancy payouts and now they are trying to take that away from them. I think that is deserving of union action.
It makes no difference who gets in,the civil service will be cut BIG TIME.
Handing back money to the treasury by striking will achieve nothing.
But – are those salaries in the private sector actually real? How many times do you go for a job that’s supposed to earn £x and it’s a lot less that’s on the table as a real offer? And don’t forget that in the private sector the hours are much longer for no extra pay. I don’t think private sector real wages are below that of the public sector anymore. I think the public sector pensions are much more generous. And I think that as someone who sees quite a section of salary information for a living.
The unions have a vested interest in making public sector workers believe they are having a raw deal of it all – without it they wouldn’t be so attractive for members to join as let’s face it, most of those in unions aren’t militants, they just ordinary people.
Interesting article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8549380.stm
My personal experience tells me yes you do earn more money in the private sector ( I am earning a least twice what I would get in the NHS this year) but far less job security.
Thats a fair point John,you trade overall earnings ,bonuses etc,promotion,advancement for security and pensions.Its swings and roundabouts really.
Its a classic case of freedom versus security with private versus public, but the public is no longer as secure as it used be.
You can easily get sacked for incidents OUTSIDE of work in the civil, they are very touchy about that, whereas a private employer would be indifferent.
All this hostilty towards the public sector bemuses me, IT WAS the PRIVATE BANKS, aided and abetted by the government that fucked up the economy,NOT the PUBLIC sector.
The same private banks who are getting BONUSES out of public money.People having a dig at public workers is a distraction the goverment/banks like,ITS THEIR FAULT.
I will put money on saying when BA goes under the militant socialists of Unite will try and pin all the blame on Willie Walsh. If BA cabin crew lose their jobs it is their own fault. They should be grateful just to have jobs nevermind the fantastic salary they get for working 3 days a week and all the perks.
I agree TB, they are mad.
So Shaun – should people keep harping on about what Conservatives (most of whom have now retired) did over 13 years ago now – or should we concentrate on the last 13 years of incompetence and self-serving?
And if we are going to go into ancient history perhaps we should take a good look at Jim Callaghan’s reign – remember bodies not being buried and the plans for all burials in some areas to be forced to be at sea as the coffins piled up – or those iconic images of rubbish stacked up in Leicester Square. Anything as bad as that happened under another regime?
I was glad when Maggie got in because at least at first she did genuinely want to help the country get back on its feet – and she genuinely did help social mobility though I agree it did all go downhill towards the end with unsuitable privatisations. Nor do I think Cameron would make a good Prime Minister (though I know for sure that Gordon Brown is terrible).
I think it’s obvious that you know nowt about the subject if you can be blatantly support the Labour party that has lined its own pockets in oil deals, lobbyist deals and expenses scandals whilst the country has been brought to its knees financially.
Well said Frustrated, leave politics to the grown ups ‘Shaun’ and stop throwing your toys at me, I have done nothing wrong so leave me alone you are not welcome here so go away.
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/blackpoolnews/Cash-crisis-as-highways-crumble.6170988.jp
another article TB?
Sorry been at work all day, I might knock one up tonight, thanks for the idea.
Shaun the Sheep, Dolly the Sheep, Larry the Lamb, you have been warned more than enough times to stop with this namecalling and bullying me with your nasty little comments. I have had enough of your childish abuse and I will be blocking any of your comments from now on and I will be writing to Phil to have him permanently block you from the site. Your childish insults are not welcome so just leave me alone and fuck off somewhere else because we don’t want you here.
well said TB.
Labour have been in power for the last 13 years, there are no excuses for their incompetence.
Shaun the Sheep aka Ruth Duffy (yes I know your email address ‘Shaun’) can shut up, I have every right to comment on the incompetence of this useless Labour Government. When I say I wish people would stop dwelling on the past I mean past Governments, I have every right to complain about the CURRENT Government.
I don’t know why you get so upset TB. Anyone with half a brain certainly won’t be voting Labour – and they know it.
That’s why they’ve been dumbing down the education system, putting propaganda on PC issues into schools’ curricula and importing people from nations that don’t know what they’re like for the last 13 years.
But people will realise – if not at this election the next – because they truly have been one of the worst governments in my living memory and when that time comes they won’t be getting back into power for decades.
P.S. If “Shaun” is a Labour councillor, how does a hard-working councillor of any denomination have the time to police Gazette comments for one person’s postings? For all my criticism of Fylde councillors I seriously doubt any would have the time to take out such a personal and long-winded campaign against one person.
I don’t believe it actually is the Ruth Duffy that is just the name on the email address, the comments by ‘Shaun the Sheep’ are far too childish and incoherrent to be a middle-aged councillor, plus I doubt any councillor would be stupid enough to risk their reputation and career by going on public sites abusing people. The only reason I get upset is because I hate been spoken like that, this is friendly site where good decent people from all walks of life can have a banter, it is not a place for slanging matches.
But I agree completely Frustrated if anyone honestly wants to vote Labour they need their head examining.
and sectioning!
Sadly the only real difference between now and 1979 is that there isn’t anybody in the Conservative Party (except, perhaps for William Hague) who has balls even half the size that Maggie did and have the courage to actually tell the truth…i.e. “We’re going to – because we need to – grab this bloody country by the scruff of it’s neck and get it working again”.
there is of course NICK GRIFFIN, he gets my support.
The greedy, overpaid BA staff are at it again holding the country to ransom. Why are they being allowed to get away with it? I strongly support Willie Walsh in his actions to stop these ridiculous and unecessary strikes. I feel trade unions have far too much power for their own good and must be curbed. These greedy, selfish, overpaid, underworked staff have to realise the country is in an economic crisis because of the mismanagement of the economcally illiterate Labour Government and that BA is already on thin ice. I will just be laughing at them when BA goes bust because of their greed and selfishness and then they will really moan when they have no jobs. Its time they were more reasonable and accept the generous offers Mr Walsh has given them. It makes me sick hearing Unite saying ‘BA is being unreasonable’. BA have made the militant union several generous offers and they throw it back in their face, who is really being unreasonable?
NB I know this is an article from a while back but I felt like letting some steam off about these greedy and selfish BA staff and I couldn’t be bothered writing another article. For the sake of the nation these strikes must be stopped, I sincerely hope Mr Walsh succeeds in his quest for an injunction.
Its fine, following the story on old articles works to provide a timeline of events. I think it’s a disgrace these BA staff are doing this.
I think the new Transport bloke is called Philip Hammond and he has said he’s going to crack down on these strikes. BA have fired a few people and disciplined some others after they were found to have been threatening and bullying other staff who chose to boycott the strike.
Where’s Maggie when you need her? Oh right, we’ve got Dave. Now lets smash those unions.
Hear Hear, I will have to look up this Phillip Hammond, anyone who clamp down on these ridiculous militant unions is in my good books.
BA is wanting to continue to charge full air fares while providing a Ryanair-level service. Full power to the union members in standing up to this and standing up for the rights they’ve built up over the years. There’s a tendency to talk about unions in the abstract – remember unions are membership organisations made up of ordinary people like you and me. Their leaders have to stand for election, their members have to vote for strike action (held to much stronger legal standards than minor ballots like, say, the general election) and the legal restrictions placed on them is excessive (whereas company law allows powerful firms to get away with anything they like, with minimal sanctions). They deserve our full support.
What are the implications for a cabin crew member whether BA offers a trimmed service? They might have to serve a few more brews?
Whatever it may be, a deal has actually been agreed between BA and Unite yet the strikes continue, supposedly because BA said they would remove travel perks from those that went on strike and did. To summarise, BA customers are suffering so that its staff can get their 90% discounted flights back.
Unite are claiming BA are being vindictive and are singling out union reps and sacking them. According to one of the papers I was reading this morning, union reps have been bullying and threatening other staff if they work during the strike and one union rep has been sacked.
If it’s not economical to run X cabin crew on a plane, then BA should be able to run X-1 cabin crew without their entire workforce walking out, and if they do walk out they should be able to impose repercussions.
I know there is a simulacrum with the Gazette sub-editors issue but I don’t feel it’s quite the same because those jobs have been deemed unnecessary by JP bosses and as far as I gather content will no longer be sub-edited at all, whereas with BA they’re just asking the trolley dollies to pour a few more cups of tea.
One has to ask why BA need to charge premium prices. Yes, initially because they offered a premium service (branded tea rather than Netto’s own?) but now it’s probably because their staff are on strike every 5 minutes and they made hundreds of millions of pounds of losses in the last year. I believe this will only get worse as Unite calls for more strikes. JP on the other hand is in debt but is not a loss maker – but then, the JP boss gets paid an awful lot more than Willie Walsh does.
What does it matter whether they charge a lot anyway? The customer will decide whether the service is worth the money or not: we don’t need cabin crew acting as thought police. Being a BA cabin crew doesn’t make them a shareholder in the company (although I daresay many are). Whether BA make record profits or losses has no bearing on cabin crew salary.
If it’s not baggage handlers it’s check in desk staff and if it’s not them it’s cabin crew. Customers aren’t going to stick with you if the service is constantly disrupted by staff demanding more money, particularly business customers who pay obscene amounts for first/business class.
As someone said on the comments of a national paper today, “only a fool would book with an airline that has striking staff”.
The comparison with Ryanair is not quite fair. For instance, did BA cabin crew have to pay thousands in advance to fund their own training? Do they have to pay £50.00 per month for uniform? No, they walk into a job and get paid 30 grand basic plus loads of perks for serving cups of tea.
It’s a bit macabre but British Airways going bust or ending up in such a weak position that it gets taken over by a European airline might actually be a good thing. I’m sure Richard Branson (amongst others) is chomping at the bit to get those Heathrow slots.
Of course, the socialist unions will blame David Cameron for the thousands of resultant job losses (how could it possibly be down to the union members that decided not to work?) but at least it’ll set an example for all other union members that holding your company to ransom isn’t necessarily the best course of action, particularly when a deal has actually been agreed which in the case of BA, it has.
The strikers are mad,they may as well collect their P45s now, if not in the future when BAs revenue plummets.
Absolutely excellent comment Phil, I completely agree, these selfish and greedy staff should be grateful for what they get, they have it far too good as it is. I wish I could get £30k for serving cups of tea and doing a few safety demonstrations. I get £9k less for 3 hard years of training and a much more demanding high-skilled job. But anyhow I feel they what they are striking over is petty. They are whining because the crew is being dropped from 15 to 14 on long-haul flights, what is the big deal? They only work 17 hours a week as it is, with free subsidised accomodation and yet they claim they are hard done to. I have no sympathy for them at all, I sympathise with Mr Walsh in having to put up with their disloyalty and lack of gratitude.
More sponging bottom feeding scum (out of many),who need to be educated about the pragmatic value of the work ethic; via a liberal dose of Zyclon B, but NOT at the expense of the taxpayer,(she should be charged for the use of such medication).The picture is most telling.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/posts/view/134731/-30-000-a-year-for-single-mum-of-7-/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10130274.stm This is why I hate the joke of a court system in this country. Those smug, arrogant toads Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson have got their way again. I hope the new Government will curb the powers of these militant left-wingers because this is getting beyond a joke. These greedy, overpaid and underworked cabin crew should learn to be grateful for how good they have it. I wish I could paid £30k a year to push a tea trolley and give out horrible food with all those perks. These cabin crew and the unions are showing complete and utter contempt for the passengers (the REAL victims in this farce). I will make a point with never flying with BA after all this. I have no sympathy for these selfish people and they can only blame themselves when they are all on the dole which could be quite soon if BA crumbles anymore.
According to Willie Walsh the other day, “the BASSA tail is wagging the Unite dog” and Unite bosses have fallen out with the British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association.
It just gets better, hopefully there might be a war between the left-wing militants and the rank and file members. But like I say I have no sympathy for any of them. I have sympathy for Willie Walsh having to put up with this left-wing militancy trying to destroy his business.