As a ex union member of the RMT (a different group I know but still very militant) my reasons for joining were for protection from being dumped on by my incompetant senior mangers and company who provided no protection for me to do my job in.
The union was great because they protected my interest and provided support when problems occurred. A frequent occurance when you are dealing with a company whose HR performance is lousy.
The union however also had its problems that it sometimes protected the indefensible and also focused on certain groups of staff rather than the whole. As someone who when I first started working said that they would never join a union, I am glad I did and in certain circumstances would again.
I now work with a lot of companies that have unions and see much the same from their unions. Sometimes the companies are wrong, also sometimes the unions are as much to blame as the companies at times because of this mandate to protect their members.
A mandate to protect the rights of the workers is fine but at the same time logic, reason and sensibility also have to be used by the union leadership. If the company is bleeding money, cuts need to be made and yes the union should protect the workers but also work with the company to ensure the suvivability of both the company and jobs. No company means no union so cutting off the arm that feeds you is stupid.
An example of this is 2 car factories in canada. At one factory the union refused to take a pay cut and lose some benefits. The other one the union recognised the company was in trouble and agreed to some cuts etc but not without some compromise. In the end the factory with the good union relations is still in operation, the other, well lets just say its not.....
IMHO It seems to me the union relationship handling at BA is in need of a big shake up along with the Cabin crew taking control of their union leadership and giving them a balanced instruction on how to proceed with the talks.
All this talk of stike does nothing to help the confidence of passengers, the finacial situation of BA, or the crews. BOTH BA management and the Union need to remember this because without passengers, there is no airline............