BA and union talks stopped by protesters

[Stormproof]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10140911.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


BA and union talks stopped by protesters

Page last updated at 18:02 GMT, Saturday, 22 May 2010 19:02 UK

Willie Walsh is surrounded by chanting protesters

Talks between British Airways and union leaders were brought to an abrupt end when protesters stormed the meeting.

Dozens of demonstrators from the Socialist Workers Party breached security at the London offices of the conciliation service Acas.

It is not known how much progress was made in the last-ditch talks aimed at averting strikes by cabin crew.

The latest strikes follow a long-running dispute over jobs, pay and working conditions.

The two sides sat around the negotiating table for more five hours on Saturday before the protesters interrupted the meeting.

More than 100 demonstrators gathered outside the building, saying they were there to show solidarity with BA cabin crew.
Banners and shouting

Those who made it to the 23rd floor, where the talks were taking place, came face to face with BA chief executive Willie Walsh and Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite.

Mr Woodley angrily remonstrated with the protesters telling them to "shut up".

The talks had to be abandoned amid scenes of chaos and Mr Walsh had to be escorted by police from the building.

The protesters, many holding up Socialist Workers Party banners, stayed in the building until they were ejected by police officers.
'Petty attitude'

BA cabin crew who are Unite members are set to begin a five-day strike on Monday, with more strikes to follow from 30 May and 5 June.

Before the talks began, Mr Woodley accused BA bosses of having a "petty, vindictive" attitude.

He said the current deal offered by Mr Walsh could not be accepted by his members.

But Mr Walsh, who has said the company will do everything it can to reach an agreement with Unite before Monday, has blamed Bassa, the Unite branch representing crew, for the failure to reach a deal.

"The issue is that the trade union branch at the heart of this dispute - Bassa - has not accepted and will not accept that negotiation is the way forward and that is regrettable but is the truth," he said on Friday.

Mr Woodley denied Bassa was the problem, and said he had recommended the rejection of the latest deal to union members.

"Mr Walsh says that we cannot deliver a deal. He is right about that because the deal on the table cannot be delivered so he has got to change," he added.
'Issue of trust'

BBC business correspondent Joe Lynam said the two sides were very close to reaching an agreement but there was still a big question over the issue of trust.

Chief Acas conciliator Peter Harwood expressed optimism about an agreement, but warned that if a deal was not secured this weekend there was "every possibility that additional pressures on both sides will ensue which will make a final resolution more problematic".

Unite say the main stumbling blocks now are the travel perks that were taken away from members who went on strike in March and disciplinary action which has been taken against more than 50 of its members.
Analysis

Almost 12% of BA's 13,000 cabin crew staff do not actually live in England and need to commute to their principal place of work at Heathrow airport.

For them the loss of heavily subsidised air travel is a vital part of any solution to avert strikes set for Monday. No travel concessions. No Deal.

BA boss Willie Walsh has already relented somewhat on this issue - having promised in March that striking cabin crews would never see those travel perks again.

But he can only go so far. If travel perks are reinstated as before the strike, he will anger the thousands of cabin crew staff who did not down trolleys last March.

If he does not move substantively, he should adopt the brace position for 15 days of strikes, continued bad will and an invoice of around £100m.

Bassa secretary Duncan Holley said he believed Mr Walsh was "determined to break the union".

Mr Holley, a former BA staffer who worked in cabin crews for 34 years until he was sacked this month after disciplinary hearings, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Mr Walsh had never agreed to negotiate with his 12,000 members.

"He keeps talking about us being dysfunctional - we actually are the biggest branch in the country; we represent a third of his workforce," he said.

He added that he did not want to disrupt customers' plans but he had to look after union members.

If the strike goes ahead, BA plans to fly more than 60,000 customers a day next week, operating 60% of long-haul flights and 50% of short-haul services from Heathrow.

It says its services from Gatwick will be unaffected.

The airline is intending to lease up to eight aircraft with pilots and crew from other UK or European carriers.
Court challenge

Earlier this week, BA was granted a court injunction preventing the strikes after the High Court ruled that the Unite union had not reported results of its strike ballot correctly to members.

However, this was overturned on Thursday following an appeal by the union.

On Friday, BA reported its biggest annual loss due to lower passenger numbers, higher costs and the impact of strike action.

The airline lost £531m ($766m) in the 12 months to March - BA's biggest loss since it was privatised in 1987.

It is estimated that strikes by cabin crew in March cost BA £43m.

[clashcityrocker]

It has been suggested that these were actually posties who stormed the meeting.
Obviously they turned up late and delivered the message to the wrong bloke.

[andy2007]

Talks between British Airways and union leaders were brought to an abrupt end when protesters stormed the meeting.

Dozens of demonstrators from the Socialist Workers Party breached security at the London offices of the conciliation service Acas.


WTF were the SWP protesters hoping to achieve, by preventing negotiations?!?!?
The talks may not have achieved anything. But there's always the possibility that they might have done. Now there is less time to get what the workers want, without them having to Strike. Whatever happened to the SWP supporting the workers?

Anyone have any idea what their agenda is?

[Tman]

Whatever happened to the SWP supporting the workers?

Now when did they ever do that? The SWP exist for the benefit of the SWP, no-one else...

Anyone have any idea what their agenda is?

They have an agenda?

[andy2007]

They've always claimed to be there for the benefit of the workers. But their actions this time, have seriously damaged the worker's position. Because, not only does it mean that they will almost certainly run out of time to negotiate, before the first Strike. But there will no doubt be a suspicion by the Management, that they were in some way involved.

Based on these events, I suspect you could be right about their motives.

They MUST have an agenda, to have gone to so much trouble. But I've no idea what it could be. They've just been so counterproductive to the workers cause. But I'd be fascinated to find out what they THOUGHT they'd achieve.

[fishtank]

They MUST have an agenda, to have gone to so much trouble. But I've no idea what it could be. They've just been so counterproductive to the workers cause. But I'd be fascinated to find out what they THOUGHT they'd achieve.

They do have an agenda,it's just like you Andy no-one at the SWP has the slightest idea what that agenda is.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Anyone have any idea what their agenda is?

I have a mate in the SWP and he, and presumably the SWP describe themselves as Anti-Capitalist and Revolutionaries. So I suppose their agenda would be over throw of the government and a fairer distribution of assets. They have been described as Trotskyists in their version of communism/socialism.

I hope that helps Andy, my post lacks opinion on purpose, but I hope it gives an idea what the SWP are about, however they do have a web site might be worth a visit if your interested in further reading http://www.swp.org.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[LJR]

I know no more than any other about this but who decided it was the SWP? Or is it the media telling us what they want it to be? I do not trust any of our media or even BA to pay a few louts to stop negotiations. Is there a link from the SWP about this?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I know no more than any other about this but who decided it was the SWP?

The SWP did via their own publication http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=21303" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Right to Work conference shows opposition to BA boss Willie Walsh
More than 600 trade unionists and other activists attended an emergency Right to Work conference in central London today. After an opening rally it divided into workshops which debated how to fight the cuts and attacks on workers' conditions.

One of the highlights of the day came when a striking British Airways (BA) cabin crew worker addressed the rally. He received a standing ovation, after explaining how the BA's cuts affected staff and how their situation was misrepresented in the media. He pointed out that his basic salary was only £12,000.

Once the conference's business was over some 200 SWP members and supporters marched to Euston Towers, where Willie Walsh was in a meeting at the Acas conciliation service.

The door was open and protesters rode up to the 23rd floor. They came across Walsh talking on his mobile outside the talks and chanted at him, "Willie Walsh, who are you? We support the cabin crew!"

The demonstrators then left the building and held a rally outside demanding that activists build solidarity for the BA workers and hold collections to support the strikes.

© Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). You may republish if you include an active link to the original.

[LJR]

Many thanks, so at least the part of the fools being there is true. Now the big part! Why were doors left open? I cant even get into half of my flats because of locked doors! How did they do it? Negotiations worth MILLIONS of pounds a day and they cant afford a doorman or Two to stop this sort of thing? Not a copper around dispite these high profile negotiations with a demo around the corner? Walsh on to his phone to the mail ect saying that UNITE did it and walking out! Now come on people are some people being taken for MUGS? Make your own mind up but i have!

[BELIAL]

Shame really ,all good intentions and enthusiasm but some members have a history of hearts ruling heads. Ties in with an often leveled criticism that the leadership lacks a coherent analysis or perspective , they flip flop on alliances, often slate other left groups , opt for PR stunts all in an attempt get a short cut to their dream. One look at our CWU president should be enough to inform you about their lack of consistency .
Sorry chaps ,I really do wish you were better equipped and more effective

[LJR]

You could get a fag paper between UNITE and BA as for the cuts, alls this is about is the so called perks that BA have taken away from union members but left in place for the strike breakers. The only thing that BA want is a totaly broken Union and not reinstating those perks to Union members will do it. Forget the dumb sh***s that crashed that meeting for a momment. How did this happen? Was it all coincidence? I dont think so for the reasons i gave in my last post! It beggers belief that such a crucial meeting was unlocked! It beggers belief that anyone knew this meeting was on the 23 floor so went there! It beggers belief that the 100s of Police that were in the area did not notice 200 people nip around the corner and do the dirty deed! It beggers belief that this venue has NO security to lock the door and or block entrance to stairs and lifts. A bloody dozen people could hold of an army there FFS Something smells very bad here and the ONLY winners on that night were Walsh and BA due to this bad luck and coincidences. Before you make your mind up see how Walsh behaved at Ryan Air.

[andy2007]

It's beginning to sound like there was an Agent Provocateur at work here. Particularly as they knew exactly where to go, and there was no security to stop them. The plot thickens.....

[LJR]

It's beginning to sound like there was an Agent Provocateur at work here. Particularly as they knew exactly where to go, and there was no security to stop them. The plot thickens.....

Seen the news? So called perks! This thing could have gone away if the strikers got the same perks as the strike breakers that Walsh took away in the first place! Walsh is there to smash the Union. We as workers get LIED to every day of our working week and thats just RM, please dont buy into it. Our own Government have had a hand in killing well over 250.000 people as well as our brave service people on a LIE so its not new! Ask where the CCTV that catches a small group of pick pockets was when 200 people ran away from 100s of police officers that did not notice whilst this was going on? Ask why the staff of the hotel couldnt get help with 100s of police officers around the corner? Sorry but how thick do they think we are?

[borders]

and no mention of duffle coats yet