‘BRITISH Airways cabin crew are fighting for the whole trade union movement,’ striking Unite member ‘George’ told News Line yesterday.
Using a pseudonym to avoid victimisation, the BASSA rep (part of Unite) continued: ‘The mood on the picket lines is very upbeat.
‘We are getting a lot of support from the union. Strike pay has increased.
‘I believe that everyone in BA must be brought into this struggle.
‘This strike has been portrayed as trying to save the company money.
‘Well we have offered the company savings, but it has not been accepted by Walsh.
‘This proves that he is out to break the union.’
‘James’, speaking on another picket line, said: ‘A lot of the rest of the BA workforce are behind us.
‘We’ve had cards from other departments saying they’re backing us.
‘This is about breaking the union, and every union around the world is watching us.
‘Yesterday we had a donation of £100,000 from the United Steelworkers of America.
‘That goes to show that we’ve got massive support.
‘The agreement that Walsh wanted us to sign was called The Way Forward.
‘In my view, it was the way back to the Dark Ages, back to slavery.
‘Nobody can afford to lose 40 per cent of their wages.
‘One of our chants on the picket line is “You are wasting BA’s money, Mr Walsh’’.
‘We went up to Speaker’s Corner and chanted it and the City types looked up very concerned.’
‘Georgina’ said: ‘They are going to be doing the same thing that they’ve done to us to the pilots and to the ground staff.
‘It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.
‘I think the way forward is when the shareholders sack Walsh.
‘We are all nice people. We’ve looked after people all our lives.
‘It takes a lot to bring us here.
‘They are sacking people on charges of gross misconduct.
‘We don’t know what gross misconduct is anymore.
‘Everyone they sack for gross misconduct is one less they have to pay off.
‘Everyone here has got a friend who’s been sacked.
‘There are 11,000 of us cabin crew and everyone knows sacked people.
‘They’ve got a huge disciplinary department.
‘A friend of mine got sacked. I phoned her. She said, “Don’t you understand, I can’t talk to you.’’
‘I’m really worried for her. I just wonder how many people are close to suicide.’
Susan said: ‘Basically, I think what is involved is the onslaught on the Redeployment Agreement.
‘This is what the so-called race to the bottom is all about.
‘They want to be able to redeploy us and cut our wages and conditions.
‘We’re worried about our pensions, we’re worried about our jobs, we’re worried about our future.
‘The whole of the British Airways workforce must come and join us.’
