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2010 - What will it hold for you?Jan 3rd, 2010 by admin

As the old year leaves us and a new one begins, for most people it is a time for reflection on the past and hopefully, optimism for the future.

It is a time of resolutions; some last, some don’t! It is a time for wishing that our friends, family and loved-ones lives will be better in the year ahead.

In some ways we begin anew, with a clean slate and a renewed enthusiasm. Though in reality it is only a date on a calendar and just another day, in our minds it is so much more; it gives us the chance to draw a veil over the past and to start over again - and as crew, that’s exactly what we need to do.

What will the year head hold? Will it be happy, peaceful and prosperous?

The answer to that will largely rest with you; more than in any other year, our future will be shaped permanently and you will be the people that shape it.

We all experienced an emotional and difficult end to 2009, it is often said “that what does not kill you, only makes you stronger” and more than ever we now need to prove that to be true and not just a clich�.

After the Christmas season and with a New Year beginning, it’s very easy to want to move on; it’s only human nature to want to want to put things behind us and forget about them, to in effect “get on with our lives” but we cannot afford to do that; you cannot afford to do that.

The reasons why we reluctantly had to call for industrial action were important then and are more so now.

We were given a very real glimpse of our airlines’ true feelings towards cabin crew and the value that they place on your reputation and standing and indeed our airlines as a whole - and it wasn’t pleasant for anybody.

Nothing has changed.

2010 will be what we make it: will we still have the courage to stand up for what we know is fair and just, or do we no longer have the strength of character to do what we know is right but what will nonetheless require courage to face.

Nobody ever said this would be easy and it isn’t, but that does not make it any less right. The public will never love the fact that they could be inconvenienced if we take strike action, and it would be unrealistic to expect them to do so, but this action is about you and looking after your future.

The public don’t and won’t care one iota whether you can pay a mortgage at the end of 2010 or not, and neither will the press, but you will. So we are going to have to remain strong and focused and work hard to deliver an even stronger message to our board: “leave us alone and let us get on with doing our job”. That’s what we do well, that’s what we want to do, that’s what makes British Airways what it is and that will eventually make the public very happy with us once again.

In one of the more reasoned comments on the dispute, George Galloway said in a radio interview that it was “ quite ludicrous to blame the state of an airline on the people who serve you a tomato juice; the blame must lie with the people that run it”.

The fact that a dangerous and farcical interpretation of the law has delayed the situation into this New Year is something that Mr. Walsh should have considered.

Bullish language, threats, intransigence and the timing of their impositions led to only one course of action - a dispute over Christmas, and a long one; their threats gave no other choice.

Was the twelve days a surprise to most people? Absolutely. That was the point.

It was designed to have shock value, and it did; it was designed to get peoples’ attention, and it did.

Was it a little unnerving? Of course it was, but the point of the action was not to be on strike for twelve days, but to create a situation big enough that it could not be ignored and for negotiation to be recognised as the only sensible way forward.

Some people quite rightly asked, why Christmas? Was twelve days necessary?

Let us be absolutely and unequivocally clear - yes.

If it could have been less, it would have been but we did not have that luxury. Nobody - and we mean, nobody - wants to go on strike. It is always a last resort; we just did not have any other options. This was a management that had planned and calculated for over a year exactly when to impose their changes. They knew the impact it would have on both you and our customers, yet they were the ones who cynically chose to bring any potential dispute to a head directly over the Christmas season, they had prepared for a short strike and had the resources to withstand it; they counted wrong.

This union does not want a strike; it simply wants your agreements honoured, any cuts to be fair and proportionate, and a future that you can be sure of; industrial action will only ever be used to secure those aims.

Therefore, it simply was not an option to have anything less; a relatively easy three-day stoppage over a quiet weekend in January was not, and will not cut it in terms of influencing our current management and would have had no impact on their thinking whatsoever. This was, and is, an extremely determined management; they have a big prize in their sights and are willing to risk many millions of pounds to achieve their aim - the ending of unionised cabin crew and with that, the untold savings of low-cost terms and conditions. Their resolve was firm, our resolve needed, and needs to be, equally firm.

Think back to our CEOs’ public statements in the build up to the dates being announced - there was not a hint of compromise, no matter what the potential impact on British Airways or its customers; his private statements to Unites leaders were no less inflammatory. Mr. Walsh is a skilled poker player; he does not reveal his thoughts or his hand. Your union on the other hand, has the disadvantage of being an open democracy with 14,000 members and 14,000 different opinions; every thought is public property, courtesy of websites forums and interviews, every thought or word is seized upon and exploited.

In 2010 we respectfully ask you to consider one resolution, be careful what you say in public; we do not want to see your words used out of context against us and, however well intentioned, used to weaken your colleagues resolve by being blazoned on the front of national newspapers.

Let’s face it, Mr. Walsh would hardly employ such a foolhardy poker strategy and neither should you; when your opportunity to vote comes along, you have a second chance to send a message, don’t waste it - he won’t.

There are always difficulties and setbacks along the way. Yes, they are unfair but the alternative is to simply give up.

2010 could be the year that by staying together, we can show that despite setbacks, we do have the courage and determination to finally get back the respect we deserve and to shape a more certain future for us all. Or will it simply be the year when you surrender your future at the first hurdle and the job you love begins to dwindle away.

That choice as always, will rest with you.

Our issues are no less valid because a judge ignored democracy and allowed our voices to be silenced for a month.

Some things are worth fighting for and we strongly believe that more than ever, but we need you to join with us to do it. We know it’s hard but we need every single one of you to pick yourselves up, dust yourselves off and send a renewed message - “we are still here and we’re not going anywhere until you listen to us”.

What better way to do that than an even stronger ballot result, carried out quietly with dignity and determination.

As before, the option to talk is available to Mr. Walsh and again, we urge him to take it. UNITE has scheduled our new ballot to go out on January the 14th, unless an agreement can be reached. We urge him not to waste this window of opportunity and implore him to follow a course of diplomacy, not conflict, without delay.

If a ballot is issued, it will be because this has failed.

We make this appeal directly to Mr. Walsh. We can waste no more words appealing to Bill Francis; he has been proven to be nothing more than a puppet of those above him. What head of cabin crew would actually participate in destroying the reputation of his own department, and then offer them up as a sacrificial lamb to a biased media? Whatever the outcome, we hope that his Christmas cracker motto recommended moving swiftly along his chosen career path, for his credibility is finished as far as the cabin crew community is concerned.

We wish you well for 2010; may it be the year that you hope it to be.

Sincerely,

All of your BASSA and Amicus reps