British Airways McCarthyite Internet Witch-hunts Forum FB

[norbert]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010 ... ike-action" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


IMO It's no coincidence BA have more than a few ex Royal Mail Managers that " coincidentally " " pursued other careers " after the 2007 Industrial Disputes like Tony McCarthy ( nicknamed Mac The Knife by BA staff ) , hence the Aerial Sharon School of Industrial Relations .

According to Five Live - staff have also been questioned over the BASSA Union Forum . Staff have complained about deliberate union busting tactics and intimidation to vote NO against the Union on a daily basis .

A postal worker has been on Victoria Derbyshire drawing parallels too with BA ." Backroom Blockheads" that have no understanding how things work in the real world were mentioned . I think there is Podcasts of the show . Other Airline staff complained of a top heavy Management culture in BA . Former RM CEO Crozier has been castigated for non productive artificial layers of RM management .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BA Management have written to UNITE demanding the release of 32 names on the Staff Forum . BASRA allege BA management put a notice board up asking Ground Crew to put messages up re Cabin Crew at their HQ , many messages were offensive and obscene . BA reluctantly took the notice board down after 4 days .

"Unite's assistant general secretary, Len McCluskey, said: "BA has unleashed a cyberspace witch-hunt. Cabin crew have been suspended simply for being a Facebook friend. This is McCarthyism for the internet age.

"This bears all the hallmarks of a management drunk on its own machismo, regardless of the damage done to the airline's image and reputation. It is now time for BA's management to quit harassing its workforce and get back to negotiating a solution to the dispute."

One source said of the disciplinary hearings: "It's like something out of The Crucible. They were asked: 'Are you on Facebook? Have you ever engaged in BA-related discussions on Facebook?' Whatever the answer, they were still suspended. Just commenting on the existence of the list, it seems, is enough to get someone suspended."

Some staff being investigated, it is understood, had received and forwarded, in separate private emails, a separate list of names of BA "strike-breaker" staff enrolled on the airline's cabin crew course, which started two weeks ago to retrain non-flying staff to perform steward duties.

Letters given to suspended staff say: "You have been suspended because of allegations that, in relation to your activity on Facebook, you took part in conduct likely to harass a BA colleague and/or incited others to take part in such conduct."

The allegation is also of having "committed serious breaches under BA's data protection policy by accessing and using, or attempting to access and use, personal data of a BA colleague or colleagues for illegitimate and/or unauthorised purposes".

They now face a "preliminary investigation" and, ultimately, possible dismissal for gross misconduct."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010 ... s-expected" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[POSTMAN]

Where's this forum then?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Where's this forum then?

could be this one but its a members only one and looks as thought its done by their union BASSA http://www.bassa.co.uk/phpbb3/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[norbert]

http://s812.photobucket.com/albums/zz50 ... g&newest=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.pprune.org/cabin-crew/404353 ... vi-22.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; A forum about the BASSA forum - hope the above is of interest - Another " Skinhead's Reunion " message board

seen this before - http://www.cabincrew.com/ccnetwork/foru ... 6296&PN=21" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; as above

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1w4aauda-c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; On the new ballot

On the PCCC & apparent Counter Insurgency + Industrial Terrorism http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=20113" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ( 26/01 ) http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=20240" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ( 09/02 )

Sorry if this is not in paragraphs - this is exactly how I found it , I don't know if it was sent by BA / Walsh ? in this format

Dear Colleague, I am sorry to be writing to you again, but it is very important that you read this letter. It contains information that will affect you personally. If you are a member of Unite, you are again being asked a question that will have serious repercussions for you, our customers and our company: whether you will support a strike or support our customers. There has been talk of potential strikes for many months now. We cannot go on like this. In December we saw what our customers and the wider public thought about a strike. Their patience is running out. It is time to be absolutely clear about what will happen if a strike takes place. I know many of you were shocked by the prolonged nature of the strike that Unite planned at Christmas, and the distress this caused for the customers you serve. It damaged our reputation and cost our company millions of pounds in lost revenue at a time when we are already facing record annual losses. Since early this month, we have been holding discussions with Unite. We had already planned the next phase of the talks – and then on Monday the union told us that it was calling another strike ballot. As you know, we suffer financially as soon as there are headlines about strikes, because our customers start booking with other airlines. We have a great heritage, but we must strive for a great future. The aviation industry becomes more competitive every year and as the news from Japan showed this week, even the most famous global airlines will go bankrupt if they fail to adapt to what is happening around them. I have listened to what matters to you We must bring our cabin crew costs in line with those in other airlines to ensure a bright future for everyone in IFCE and for our many thousands of BA colleagues who have already made contributions to the company’s cost reduction drive. Over the last year, many of you spoke to me about how you want to approach those savings. You wanted a voluntary approach to redundancies. You wanted to keep your pay and conditions. And you wanted assurances about the future. Our package offers all of these and meets our cost target. To accommodate the requests from crew for part-time working and voluntary redundancy, we have slightly reduced crew numbers onboard. There will be a two-year freeze on base pay (but not increments), new contracts for future crew, and changes to the worldwide disruption agreement that would put our customers first without changing the existing disruption payments. If you do not support a strike If the majority of you choose to support our customers and reject a strike, I will continue to offer these assurances. They would allow you to: Keep your current individual terms and conditions Keep your current basic pay, with 2%-7% increment rises this financial year and next for 75% of you Keep your average variable pay through the offer of a monthly payment Keep flying an unrivalled network of routes and staying in quality hotels while you’re there Keep lifestyle choices, either by changing fleets at Heathrow or transferring to part time Keep a commitment from us to keep talking with Unite about how we recruit new crew Keep full union representation with an offer from us for Unite to represent future crew. If you support a strike Some of you have said that you voted yes in December, not because you thought it would lead to a strike but because you thought it would lead to more talks or a better deal. What became clear was that voting yes means you consent to going on strike. Full stop. No-one expects it to be different this time. We can only assume that another yes vote would again lead to an extended strike or series of strikes. This could have a catastrophic effect on our business and our reputation. This is very serious. As a company, we owe it to our customers and all our colleagues to do everything in our power to prevent this outcome. Therefore before you vote, I want you to be fully aware of the consequences should you vote yes and go on strike. In those circumstances, you would: Lose staff travel permanently Lose pay for any duties you miss if you go on strike, including associated days off We would also need to review all costs in IFCE, including hotels. And of course I would be unable to maintain the assurances for your terms and conditions. History tells us that absence rises significantly during industrial action. We will assume that anyone who does not report for duty during a strike is taking part in that industrial action. I understand completely that coming to work during a strike can be daunting. We all know of past examples of intimidation. This will not be tolerated and, if there is a strike, we would put in place measures to protect you. That is something we would talk to you about in more detail nearer the time. For now, I wanted you to be clear before you vote that you need to make an active choice about what you want for your future. Vote no and back BA There has been a lot of debate about whether the changes to crew complements were part of your individual contracts. We don’t believe they are. But that is now a matter for the High Court, which is expected to make a decision before the ballot period is over. Your vote is extremely important. Please think very hard about how you will use it. It is not a bargaining tool for the negotiating table. It is what will decide whether we have a disastrous strike or not. I have been very frank with you about the consequences of your decision. Vote no and you vote to support our customers. You vote for stability and retention of your current terms and conditions. Vote yes and you vote to disown our customers. You vote for instability and a future none of us can be sure about. This is a critical moment for us all. Alienating our customers, the people who pay our wages, cannot be the right way forward. Vote no and back BA. Thank you,

FROM BASSA ?

Any individual "voicing" of opposition to British Airways plans are now
being routinely and ruthlessly targeted.

Seven CSDS and other crew have or are being disciplined for discussing
crewing level problems with passengers.

Three crew face the same fate for the same "crime" of discussing it during
their SEP at Cranebank, or on the now defunct BA forum.

Twenty crew have been summarily suspended for discussions in their own
time on Facebook.

All face gross misconduct charges.

Anonymous "heavies" arrived at our branch secretary's doors late at night
delivering forty seven pages of legal threat in an attempt to force Unite
to reveal the names of a further 32 people who post on the BASSA forum.

The BASSA branch secretary, Duncan Holley, faces dismissal for gross
misconduct for carrying out union duties. But worse, the company have yet
to hear his pre-existing grievance for this very issue.

Blair Veakins, Amicus section Convenor, though currently sick faces
potential gross misconduct charges for his absence.

Lizanne Malone, BASSA chairman, Duncan Holley, BASSA Branch secretary,
Nigel Stott, BASSA Worldwide Convenor and Mark Everard, member of the
BASSA branch committee, all had confidential details of their employment
"leaked" to the Daily Mail in an attempt to discredit them and cause them
distress and intimidation.

A further six BASSA branch committee members Marcel Devereux, Chris
Harrison, Sean Beatty, Lizanne Malone, Nigel Stott and Adrian Smith have
also been threatened.

These are troubling times. We face a concerted and determined effort to
not only break your union, but more importantly to intimidate and break
you.

This is being carried out right before your eyes and right under your
noses. Some people are simply turning a blind eye to it.

Any "opposition" no matter how minor has been targeted in an attempt to
silence it. Threats and intimidation are being routinely used to suppress
your freedom of expression.

The press are being used to portrait a grossly distorted picture of a
community. Mobs have been actively and implicitly encouraged to form and
vent their ill informed anger. Messages of hatred have allowed to be
scrawled across walls. Individuals within, and the cabin crew community as
a whole, have been characterised and demonised as a "scapegoat" - to
divert attention from the true source of responsibility for all current
ills.

What will be next? Burning piles of Unite newsletters in the streets of
waterside? Shaving the heads of strikers?

Our issues and complaints are legitimate. Our actions and challenges are
legal and our cause is just - yet we remain demonised by the public at
large. Even in the eyes of many of our own colleagues, (some of whom have
been deliberately whipped up into a state of hysteria), sadly, many seem
to actually be enjoying it. They seem oblivious to the fact that when
their turn comes, and it will, they will be on their own. Nobody will lend
them a helping hand.

Our message to them is simple, GO AHEAD VOLUNTEER TO do our work. Write
your poisonous messages of hatred. Set up your fifth column union and
revel in trying to break the strike and hearts of your friends and
colleagues. In the end it will only serve to hasten their own demise, for
they WILL be next.