U.K. and Ireland - UK Border Agency 24 hour strike on eve of olympic games

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18912742

This is pretty unhelpful. Vote for action was 57% based on only a 20% turnout.

Is this one of those disputes that will become magically resolved before it happens?

It would be a disgrace for Britain if it went ahead so I'm assuming there will be sound political pressure to avoid it!

Now I'm even MORE excited to fly STR-LHR on the evening for the 26th...it's a work trip, so NO getting out of it...totally INSANE! :td:

"In 2011-12, the agency's workforce reduced by over 1,000 more than planned, despite the fact that progress was slower than expected in the ICW [immigration casework] programme and workforce modernisation at the border, and no agency-wide skills strategy was yet in place."...

..."The result of this disconnect was, in some places, a dip in performance and the need to hire new staff or increase overtime."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18861902

Sheer genius - decide to get rid of staff, do so quicker than planned and when you find the replacement system isn't ready KEEP ON WITH THE STAFF CUTS.

You get the feeling that the Home Office didn't know there was an Olympics on.

You get the feeling that the Home Office didn't know there was an Olympics on.
Omnishambles.

Omnishambles.
Ineptocracy

Don't worry, I'm sure they've already started their catastrophisation meetings.

I am just listening to LBC 97.3 on my iPad (Yes I am a wannabe Cockney taxi driver trapped in a Colombian ghetto)

Anyway this strike seems to have fairly broad support from both the presenter and the callers. The government is getting the brunt of the radio pounding.

I am just listening to LBC 97.3 on my iPad (Yes I am a wannabe Cockney taxi driver trapped in a Colombian ghetto)

Anyway this strike seems to have fairly broad support from both the presenter and the callers. The government is getting the brunt of the radio pounding.
Well, the government is extremely unpopular in London, and most of the callers are already in the country so they won't have to wait in any queues. This doesn't really surprise me that much.

I've got no problems with a strike if good faith negotiations have failed, but to do so during the Olympics just feels very petty. Yes the government is the direct cause for not enough staff due to cuts etc, but there are many indirect causes (again, mostly due to this and previous governments messing up the economy and running the state on painful debt, as well as unrealistic pension expectations).

Ineptocracy
Ooh, I much prefer this one. :D

I've got no problems with a strike if good faith negotiations have failed, but to do so during the Olympics just feels very petty. Yes the government is the direct cause for not enough staff due to cuts etc, but there are many indirect causes (again, mostly due to this and previous governments messing up the economy and running the state on painful debt, as well as unrealistic pension expectations).
"Petty" sums it up very well, I'd say. We all know that the Home Office couldn't run a bath, and so it is hardly surprising if staff relations are almost irreparably poor, but whatever the provocation it hardly justifies their striking next Thursday.

As for the people ringing in to the radio station in support of the strike, I dare say that they are not planning to be arriving the UK next Thursday and are not planning to meet anyone at the airport who is arriving then...

And of course this will be another dog-whistle for harsher anti-union laws.

Just to update this, earlier today the strike was called off by the PCS union.

BBC News - PCS union calls off pre-Olympics border staff strike (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18973127)

Hi Everyone,

It took my sister and nephew (US Passports) less than 10 minutes to clear yesterday around 1215 in T4 (DL from DTW) and I was through in less than 5 minutes (via IRIS) and there was no queue anywhere around 750pm last night in T5.

My sister said it was the most UKBA agents she'd ever seen staffing the desks yesterday.

:)

I have some sympathy for the Border Force. They have been through a ludicrous wave of Government-enforced redundancies just a few months ago, and the remaining staff now see hundreds of temporary staff brought in on better money and provided with free accommodation to do the jobs their better trained ex-colleagues were doing.