Striking British Airways cabin crew began another five days of strike action last night. On the eve of the action BA cabin crew told News Line that ‘It’s necessary to extend the action to the rest of the BA workforce.
‘Willie Walsh is trying to starve the cabin crew, some are single parents, some live in Europe, and are losing huge amounts of money. If we can get the rest of the workforce behind us we will win, no question, the whole BA workforce is threatened by this Walsh.
‘He’s come for the crew community first because he recognises that we have the strongest union, so he knows that if he can break us he can break everyone else.’
At the recent Unite national conference joint Unite leader Tony Woodley said the following about the BA cabin crew strikers. ‘This is a dispute which can be summed up in a word: Bullying. Bullying that imposes radical changes on our members without agreement. Bullying that has seen other BA employees incited against cabin crew with, to their lasting shame, the collusion of BALPA and scab pilots. Bullying that has meant more than 50 of our brothers and sisters suspended or sacked for the crime of sending a text or posting a remark on Facebook. Bullying that forbids them from talking about their own dispute in public. Bullying that victimises trade unionists by branding them second-class employees for life through the discriminatory use of travel concessions.
‘Well there is only one thing to do with bullies – that is stand up to them. . . And we have built a union that is strong enough and proud enough to do that even to a business the size of British Airways.
‘Some opportunists may call that adventurism or phoney militancy. I call it basic self-respect, and anyone not prepared to stand up for our members in struggle is not fit to lead this great union.’
He added to the cabin crew: ‘Your union is proud of you. You have stood up not just for yourselves but for our movement as a whole. We have stood firm in the face of ludicrous anti-union judgements in the courts, in the face of a torrent of lies and smears in the Tory press, and in the face of everything a ruthless employer can throw at you.’
He added: ‘It is the scandal that at the end of 13 years of Labour government the right to strike is hanging by a thread. At the mercy of employers who would rather sue than settle, and Tory judges who appear to think strikes are OK as long as they don’t inconvenience the bosses in any way at all . . . This position is a lasting mark of shame on the 13 years of New Labour government, that the party founded to rescue trade unions from the hands of the judges should pass us on to the Con-Lib coalition hemmed in by the courts at every turn.’
Woodley did not add that the Unite leaders had handed over £11million to this shameful government in order that it could carry on condemning the BA cabin crew strikers and then ‘pass us on to the Con-Lib coalition.’
Woodley’s speech was a phoney speech by a phoney militant. To win you don’t just have to stand up to the bosses – you have to do everything that is necessary to beat them.
It is obvious to all, that in a situation of raging economic crisis the bosses are determined to smash down the working class, and that the cabin crew struggle is the first round of this war. All of the weapons of the ruling class are being used against the workers, including the anti-union laws.
Yet both Woodley and Simpson have refused to defend the jobs, wages and the conditions of BA cabin crew. In fact their boast is that they have conceded to all of Walsh’s main demands.
They have repeatedly made the point that they do not want to win this struggle and that their demand that travel facilities be restored to staff will not cost BA a penny.
It is blindingly obvious to everybody that Woodley and Simpson are incapable of defending workers gains because they refuse to fight to win against Walsh, the bosses and the anti-union laws.
Every member of Unite must demand that Woodley and Simpson resign, and that the union stops Heathrow, and calls out all of its members nationally to beat Walsh, drive back the bosses, and win the struggle.
That this will mean taking on and smashing the anti-union laws is obvious. However this is exactly what has to be done to win the BA struggle.
