'SUSPEND YOUR IMPOSITION AND THE STRIKE WILL BE OFF' – Woodley pledges to BA's Walsh
rab
'SUSPEND YOUR IMPOSITION AND THE STRIKE WILL BE OFF' – Woodley pledges
to BA's Walsh
‘Suspend – not stop indefinitely – suspend your imposition. This
strike will be off,’ Unite transport union leader Tony Woodley pledged
yesterday.
He was speaking as British Airways went to the High Court, to try and
get the judiciary to declare strike action by BA cabin crew illegal.
The dispute was triggered by BA’s imposition in November of new
working practices, which would see between one and three crew members
taken off flights.
Tony Woodley, Unite joint general secretary (TGWU), said: ‘I speak to
our cabin crew and I don’t think it’s a question of people not being
in the real world here.
‘That’s why our cabin crew have said to the company they’re prepared
to take cuts.
‘They’re having a wage cut, as I’ve said two and a half per cent
permanently they’re prepared to give, even under the company’s
figures, £53 million worth of savings. That’s more than the company
save with the imposition.
‘Does that sound like a workforce that aren’t acting responsibly.
‘Likewise with pensions, they’ve increased their pensions
contributions, they’ve taken a reduction in benefits – only a year ago
– to show willing at times of great difficulty for the company.
‘But this company have got to understand there’s a difference between
negotiating change with decent sense with hard-working men and women
and just imposing things because you think you can get away with it.
‘That’s not acceptable. We’re going to support our members, but more
importantly we’ve got an obligation here to support the travelling
public and that’s why we are demanding a pause for peace and we want
Willie Walsh to come back to the negotiating table.’
As the High Court was hearing BA’s application for an injunction to
stop the strike, union leaders Simpson and Woodley went into talks
with BA boss Walsh.
The High Court then announced that it would hold off making a decision
about whether to declare the strike illegal until today.
Unite said it hoped to ‘move from confrontation to negotiation’ adding
that it was ‘pleased that the company has seen sense’.
Derek Simpson, joint general secretary of Unite (Amicus), had already
suggested that a 12-day strike could be ‘over the top’.
BA is seeking to impose sweeping changes to pay and conditions, make
3,000 staff part-time and cut cabin crew levels.
Unite said the company was dismantling long-standing collective
agreements on working conditions and pay structures.
The union balloted its members on a strike after failing to obtain a
court order blocking the staffing changes.
Meanwhile, 55 porters at Gatwick are to strike for two hours tomorrow
and on Saturday, in protest at a pay freeze, while 70 train drivers
and 20 on-board staff will also strike on Eurostar.
Jim A
Cheers,
Jim
(I'm a Unite member btw but not BA)
rab
Basically it means imposing new terms and conditions upon the BA cabin
crew,
Roger