BA cabin crew strike to defend jobs and wages

The BA cabin crew strike has become a key political issue in the forthcoming general election. The Tories are clamouring against workers’ right to strike over terms and conditions, while Gordon Brown has disgracefully denounced Unite for striking.

British Airways cabin crew staff in the Unite union are standing firm on the second day of their strike. Only a third of BA flights have taken off, with 80 per cent of Unite members obeying the strike call, many of them on noisy and vibrant picket lines. Despite BA claims that it has fulfilled its much-reduced emergency flight schedule, Unite says many of the flights are empty and an average of 14 passengers per flight are on board.

Solidarity has not been slow in coming. A demo supporting the strikers yesterday attracted contingents from the RMT rail union, PCS civil servants, who are also in dispute and striking on Wednesday, the UCU lecturers and NUT teachers. Further afield, Air France cabin crews have arranged to strike alongside Unite next week, while German, Italian and American unions have pledged solidarity.

Union busters

Unite general secretary Tony Woodley said on Friday, "BA does not want to negotiate and ultimately wants to go to war with this union." The company withdrew its offer on the eve of the walkout and demanded the union return to work, which would have nullified its second strike ballot.

Now it has threatened to withdraw Unite’s facilities at BA. This comes on top of a massive campaign of intimidation, including the withdrawal “for life” of flight discounts and other “perks” – most of which are essential for the job.

Currently 38 Unite cabin crew members are suspended or being disciplined for matters as trivial as making jokes or expressing dismay at a company notice board on which anti-strike comments, such as “Cabin crew scum”, have been posted.

Tories lead battle cry – and Labour follows

The Tories have decided, with the help of BA chief executive Willie Walsh, to show how tough they would be in government. They even dare to criticise Labour for being funded by a union - as if it is ok for parties to be funded by millionaires, as they are, but not for workers' organisations to be political. In this the Tories show their fear and hatred of workers' political organisation.

But Labour has not exactly acted to represent the workers who are paying for the party! The Labour front bench has responded with its usual anti-working class instinct and condemned the strike – despite accepting £11 million of the union’s money to fund its election campaign.

Anticapitalists are campaigning for victory for the Unite strikers. Cabin crew are not privileged workers; their starting salary is £11,000 a year and 70 per cent earn less than £20,000, way below the average wage. They have every right to strike until BA reverses its imposed changes, which will cut 1,000 jobs and introduce worse pay and conditions on new staff.

But strikers and their supporters should demand Unite breaks from Labour and uses its millions to help fund a new, anticapitalist workers’ party that can fight against the Tories’ Lib Dems’ and Labour’s attempt to make the workers pay for the bosses’ crisis.

A longer version of this article can be found at Workers Power


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