British Airways cabin crew strike illegal

[ComradeOm]

British Airways cabin crew strike illegal, court rules

A strike by British Airways cabin crew planned for Christmas has been declared illegal in a High Court ruling.

The court agreed with BA that the cabin crew's union, Unite, had not correctly balloted its members on the strike action.

The injunction means that the 12-day strike cannot now go ahead.

Unite called it "a disgraceful day for democracy" and vowed to hold a fresh ballot of cabin crew if the dispute with BA was not resolved.

British Airways said the decision would be welcomed by "hundreds of thousands of families in the UK and around the world".

"There was never any need for a strike and we hope that Unite will take this opportunity to reflect before deciding its next steps," a statement from the company said.

"In recent days, we believe Unite has formed a better understanding of our position and of the ways in which we could move forward.

"It has also become very clear that our customers do not believe that old-style trade union militancy is relevant to our efforts to move British Airways back toward profitability."

Dispute 'not settled'

Unite's joint general secretaries, Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley, said the dispute was "far from settled".

"While we have never wanted this dispute, it is a disgraceful day for democracy when a court can overrule such an overwhelming decision by employees taken in a secret ballot," they said.

"The fact remains that this dispute is not settled.

"BA must accept that there can be no resolution except through negotiation, failing which there will inevitably be a further ballot for industrial action."

The original ballot saw 92.5% of those balloted vote in favour of industrial action.

Sitting at the High Court, Mrs Justice Cox agreed that Unite had improperly included BA employees already set to leave the company in the ballot.

From the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8418805.stm) (Updated)

[Patchd]

More anti-worker setiment coming from the beeb, very little report on what workers on the ground have said, or what their union bureaucrats have said, but better coverage of what the bosses think.

[ComradeOm]

More anti-worker setiment coming from the beeb, very little report on what workers on the ground have said, or what their union bureaucrats have said, but better coverage of what the bosses think.Tell me about it. I happened to be listening to Radio 5 earlier (not a regular occurrence) and they had the most ridiculously partisan analyst on who focused on the economic disruption while pretty much ridiculing the cabin crews

[Patchd]

Tell me about it. I happened to be listening to Radio 5 earlier (not a regular occurrence) and they had the most ridiculously partisan analyst on who focused on the economic disruption while pretty much ridiculing the cabin crews
Could it be the beeb's further shift to the right? See here (http://www.revleft.com/vb/should-uganda-execute-t124801/index.html).

[Lyev]

What sort of quarrel can the High Court have with the ballot if it was 92.5%? Oh and what specifically is this dispute over, is it just better pay?

[Patchd]

What sort of quarrel can the High Court have with the ballot if it was 92.5%? Oh and what specifically is this dispute over, is it just better pay?
"Sitting at the High Court, Mrs Justice Cox agreed that Unite had improperly included BA employees already set to leave the company in the ballot."

I don't know if this meant that they were going to be out the country because they are cabin crew, or if it were because some of those who voted were leaving the country.

[Lyev]

"Sitting at the High Court, Mrs Justice Cox agreed that Unite had improperly included BA employees already set to leave the company in the ballot."

I don't know if this meant that they were going to be out the country because they are cabin crew, or if it were because some of those who voted were leaving the country.

It's a bit tenuous though, almost as if they're looking for an excuse. Is it feasible for workers to try a wildcat strike like they did in France '68?

[Uncle Ho]

It's a bit tenuous though, almost as if they're looking for an excuse. Is it feasible for workers to try a wildcat strike like they did in France '68?

Probably not, but they should.

Unions need to wake up and grow some spine. Debs and Haywood would be ashamed to see what they've become these days.

[ComradeOm]

I don't know if this meant that they were going to be out the country because they are cabin crew, or if it were because some of those who voted were leaving the country.A small number of employees who were about to take redundancy packages (and thus not be involved in the strike) may have voted. BA argues that this irrelevant possible irregularity, which would in no way affect the result of the vote, is grounds to declare the strike illegal. Apparently the British justice system agrees

[Comrade Wolfie's Very Nearly Banned Adventures]

The excuse was that Unite balloted BA staff who had already accepted voluntry redundencies. Even the guardian was pretty anti-strike/pro BA managment.

[Patchd]

The excuse was that Unite balloted BA staff who had already accepted voluntry redundencies. Even the guardian was pretty anti-strike/pro BA managment.
But why would The Guardian not be?

[Comrade Wolfie's Very Nearly Banned Adventures]

But why would The Guardian not be?

It was more pro union on the CWU/postal worker strike issue, it tends to be left of the beeb.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

But why would The Guardian not be?

Because the liberal elements of the bourgeoisie feel better about themselves if they talk of the need for strong unions, 'social democracy' and so on. The usual bullshit.

[Dr Mindbender]

The strike is off.

[Bitter Ashes]

A few notes about the judgement.

If anyone thinks that those who play by the rulebook die by the rulebook, please read on.

1) The only reason ballots were accidently sent to those who'd been made redundant was because BA's management had refused to supply details of the redundancies to the Union. I will admit though that it's a sign of poor communications between the rank and file and the officers if they didn't find out from thier own members though, which is something I'm sure is common in the mainstream unions.

2) The media is condemning Unite for not leaving a note on the ballot papers reminding workers who have been made redundant not to vote. In actual fact, it would be illegal to modify the ballot paper in any way, including adding notes like this. Strike ballots are a cookie cutter format that has been VERY specifically designed in Westminister and even includes phrases which are outright false e.g. Saying that taking part in legal industrial action may see you fired. The unions are not even allowed to correct stuff like this on the ballot papers, let alone add a note saying who can and cannot vote. To modify the ballot would have made them ALL illegal, instead of merely 700 of them.

3) Even with the 700 void votes from redundant staff, there was still a clear majority in favour of industrial action.

4) The High Court even admitted that the main factor in thier judgement was nothing to do with the legality of Unite's balloting, but in fact because the action would cause significant harm to BA. Yes, you heard it right. It's now illegal to take part in industrial action if it threatens the company. So, maybe it's time Unite and the other mainstream unions realised that the state is 100% against worker's rights and should stop clutching onto the crumbs of labour law that are supposed to benefit them and realise that it's not worth the paper it's written on.

5) The same "justice" system ruled two weeks ago that banks can apply whatever penalty charges they want to the poorest workers, because it's profitable.

6) As you may expect, none of this was decieded by a jury.

Make no mistakes, people. This was a political trial, not a legal injunction.

[tellyontellyon]

'Taff Vale' all over again!

[Lenny Nista]

Ranma42 is right, this was clearly a political decision. This was pretty outrageous but hopefully it will start to show to the British workers movement that for effective strike action, you need to break the union laws. With the attacks about to be stepepd up after the next general election, this oculd be a dangerous lesson for the bourgeoisie to have given...

[Vanguard1917]

4) The High Court even admitted that the main factor in thier judgement was nothing to do with the legality of Unite's balloting, but in fact because the action would cause significant harm to BA.

Yep. Mrs Justice Cox: "A strike of this kind over the 12 days of Christmas is fundamentally more damaging to BA and the wider public than a strike taking place at almost any other time of the year."

Hardly 'impartially upholding the law'.



But why would The Guardian not be?


Interesting eco-arguments were put forward over at the Guardian, with their head business writer effectively arguing that the only way BA workers could save their jobs is by attacking jobs at the 'unsustainable' cheaper airlines.



The fact that cheap flying is also unsustainable from an environmental perspective only strengthens the argument for turning the clock back to the days of fewer flights.

None of this will be popular, especially now almost all of society has tasted the thrill of affordable foreign travel, but if we really want our overcrowded airlines to become a decent way to travel (from a social, environmental and passenger perspective) we need to put our money where our mouth is as consumers.

It doesn't mean that BA cabin crew can stick their heads in the sand and refuse to change either, but both sides should sit down and negotiate a new compact. If they can find a way of convincing customers to treat flying as a luxury again, and view British Airways as the place to indulge in it, the company and its employees might still find a way through this.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/dan-roberts-on-business-blog/2009/dec/14/british-airways-strike

[Uncle Ho]

It was more pro union on the CWU/postal worker strike issue, it tends to be left of the beeb.

Well, saying someone is left of the BBC is like saying they're left of Benito Mussolini, so I don't know if that's an accomplishment.