T&G calls off BA strike

???

BBC on the deal details news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6311323.stm

T&G press release:
link

(BTW - how do you do the text with a link behind it thing?)

Cheers.

I think heard a soundbite on BBC lunchtime news that BA chief was flexing his muscle - prepared to cancel flights and temporarily shut-down the business rather than cave to the unions. That's defo the gist of the story I heard.

The vote for a strike was overwhelming and the mood of the workers was obviously militant but this has been another carve up by the unions. Unions being the operative word because the machinations of the different unions on different issues (or, on the same issue) shows exactly the role of the unions today. That is to act as police force on the workers - the staggering wage cuts suffered by cabin staff over the past decade or so were all "negotiated" by the unions - in times of relative calm, and speak militant to head off trouble when the workers raise their heads. And then we have different unions playing different games with "their" workers. It's another example of the anti-working class nature of the unions at BA (and everywhere else)and can be added to their recent carve up and disciplinary action after the wildcat over the Gourmet catering issue.

There are 4 main unions at BA: GMB with 5000 workers; T&G with 20,000 (within which is what it blatently calls its "divisions"); Amicus, 6,500 and Balpa with 2,800. In 1997 a union "negotiated" pay ceiling for the cabin staff was reduced from £26,600 to £15,700 and a change (detrimental to the workers)was "negotiated" in working conditions. The T&G has now proposed a ceiling of £18,600, ie, a figure nominally eight grand less than a decade ago.
This is not to propose "one big union" - the bourgeosie won't move to this yet. It is to the state's advantage for its unions to carve the workers up in separate "negotiating" bodies. There is talk of the T&G merging with Amicus, a two-million member "super-union" and such a union would mean further attacks on the class struggle. The present strategy of division at BA is clear: isolate and contain the most militant workers, in this case the cabin staff, who are leading the fight back. The strategy also involves keeping the other workers confused and confined to "their" sector. This is clear with the T&G, which called itself "one big union", where it has its "divisions" within itself to further carve up the workers. The cabin crew "division", BASSA, is itself proposing to break away from the T&G, dividing the working class further. The story of the unions at BA, exemplified in this latest skirmish, is one of division, factions, arguments, disagreements and different positions for different unions. This is the role of unions everywhere since they have been fully integrated into the state apparatus. It's the same over the BA pension issue: different positions, stances, propaganda and recommendations coming from different unions.
Details of the new pay and conditions deal are fuzzy, deliberately so, but Tony Woodley of the T&G remember was the "fifth man" of the "Phoenix Four" in their carve up and attack on the Rover workers from 2000 on.
A "super-union" at BA, or anywhere else, would be a further attack on the working class. And we can see, even now within the T&G at BA at the moment, the tendency of them, given the conditions, is to divide in order to break up the working class and subvert its struggle. The real lesson for the working class, is that action outside and against the unions, like that over Gate Gourmet, is the only effective way forward.

The link shows that the action by Gate Gourmet was a provocation and I wouldn't deny that there was some union involvement in the strike. Unions do call strikes, they wouldn't be much good to the ruling class if all they did was stop them or do nothing. Because someone is a shop steward doesn't mean that he's not a worker on strike, but that isn't really the point here. That the unions paid off these guys suggest they were involved in the strike. But the initial attack and confrontation was from the bosses and the union action - and there must have been some - was a reaction to that. What was extremely positive about this strike was the solidarity action by baggage handlers who walked out, after discussions within themselves, in support of the Gate Gourmet workers. This wasn't a union action, this was against the unions and the unions did everything they could to stop it and then get the baggage handlers back. And when they got them back, the union took part with the management in a witch hunt.
It was the solidarity action of the baggage handlers that pointed the way to struggle and sent a shiver through the bosses. The Gate Gourmet strike itself was isolated and strangled, not least by the unions. Today, the actions of the unions at BA is to carve up the workers under the guise of "defending" them.

The unions were involved in calling the strike, but underhandedly. That makes no difference to the anti-working class nature of the unions and the needs of the working class. A wildcat, where workers walk out and then show solidarity with other workers in different areas is, by its very nature, against the unions. The unions will probably be involved at some levels, but the action, like over Gate Gourmet, is against the unions and everything the unions stand for, ie, the division of the working class.
Of course the unions will want to maintain credibility with "their" and other workers, that is an important part of the role of unions for the state. They do this day in and day out. Union stewards could have encouraged this strike and higher-up officials could have encouraged the "encouragers". But what is clear, unless you take workers for mindless dummies following orders, is that the workers at BA were seething about management (and by implication the union's role in implementing attacks) and the attacks coming down on them and others over pay and conditions. The baggage handlers in this example didn't need much encouragement and the unions in the place would have known this better than anyone else. There's no clear cut, pure, virgin struggle "outside of the unions". The unions have to be there because that is their role for the state. What was important about this event was the example shown by the baggage handlers of solidarity and unity and this is the only way forward for effective struggle.
Militant workers at Gate Gourmet were booted out with a pittance "negotiated" by the unions (no huge union pay-off for them, please note). Conditions at Gate Gourmet got worse and all the unions in and around Heathrow kept a tight leash on "their" workers.
My point remains: the union set up at BA shows how the unions carve up workers in order to better control and defeat them.
The present union pay "deal" for cabin staff "negotiated" by the unions is potentially eight grand less than ten years ago. Worsening conditions will be policed by the unions at Heathrow cutting up workers into different "divisions".
Workers need to go to other workers, hold meetings, in order to fight for common causes against the common enemy, and in doing that they will come right up against the trade unions.

yep -

er, the membership weren't "fragmenting" or "fighting each other", they were seemingly united in rage against the sell-out bureaucrats. fuck yeah! (although as it stands they haven't remedied the situation )

what a lying fuckwit

Oh yes. Postal strike ballots are held to comply with anti-union laws. They are in no sense binding on the union bureaucracy.

nah here a strike is unlawful without a vote, all the vote does is provide legal cover for the bureaucrats to call a strike if they fail to sell-out their members properly.

Depends on the unions constitution.

In my local the bargaining team can call off a strike which would then make the contract go to a vote of the membership. If yes then they settle the contract if no then the strikes back on. Thats it.

No this vote would be before they go out. If they're already out they stay out til the contracts settled. Who the fuck calls off a strike in the middle of it unless the contracts ready to settle? Thats retarded.

In my industry we have to give a ten day notice to strike. So management has ten days to cave before we go out.

We do often do short one day, 2 day, or 3 day strikes as a build up though, but thats voted on as a strategy by the membership ahead of time.

There's no such thing as a "good union" for the working class - they are all part of the state.
The union "sell-out" of the cabin staff was entirely predictable - how many times do you have to see this before drawing the obvious conclusions about the unions?
Nor was it "bureaucrats" doing the "selling-out" here, but the rank and file BASSA committee, showing that it's the whole union structure that is rotten.
BA had already said that CEO Walsh would meet BASSA/T&G once a quarter in order to "boost the relationship between the airline and union workers". This unprecedented move shows how both the management and the unions are working hand in hand to stitch up the ten thousand plus cabin workers and, in the longer term, use BASSA as part of the union/management carve up of workers throughout BA and Heathrow.