Originally Posted by
Ldnn1
Are you saying they shouldn't be going to work, or simply they shouldn't be physically crossing the picket lines?
Is there a way for them to get where they need to be without crossing those lines?
The UK law is quite clear. If you are going to your place of work and there is a picket line (I don't know how it works for Cabin Crew, could be the BA staff entrance to T5) and you are not directly on strike (having not been balloted) then you DO NOT have to go in, and the employer can not discipline you for it- you have the same protection as those protected by the legal ballot.
So if the non striking cabin crew respected the picket line in the way stated above, as they arrived at the staff door to T5, and all said oh golly a picket line- lets go home, I am sure this dispute would be resolved by now as BA would have no planes flying at all...
Its called solidarity I think..
4. Going on strike and picketing
A picket line is where workers and union reps (‘picketers’ or ‘pickets’) stand outside a workplace to tell other people why they are striking. Pickets may also ask people not to:
do some of their usual work
go into work
Pickets must not prevent people from going to work or doing their usual work if they want to do so.
Industrial action by non-union members
Non-union members who take part in legal, official industrial action have the same rights as union members not to be dismissed as a result of taking action.
I don't know where this myth that if you have not been balloted yourself for the dispute, you are not allowed to refuse to cross the picket line. I am sure BA put this out to try and scare members of staff into coming in. Wouldn't surprise me if they threatened disciplinary action too. We all know that the UK government are always on the side of the employers rather than the workers in any disputes.