Workers Revolutionary Party - SET THE STRIKE DATES NOW! DEMAND CABIN CREW

The News Line: News Tuesday, 13 April 2010 SET THE STRIKE DATES NOW! DEMAND CABIN CREW

BA cabin crew on the picket line during their strike action before Easter – cabin crew members yesterday demanded more strikes be immediately called by their union, Unite

‘We want the next strike dates set now,’ a female British Airways cabin crew member at Heathrow told News Line yesterday.

She was responding to figures released yesterday by the airport’s owner, BAA, which showed that Heathrow saw 180,000 fewer passengers in March because of the strikes by BA cabin crew.

She said: ‘Apart from (BA boss) Walsh saying everything’s fantastic, in reality we’ve had a really powerful effect, which is obviously why he’s gone back into talks.

‘Walsh has already stated openly that he thinks “you don’t get what you want by negotiating’’.

‘But now we’re getting no feedback except yesterday, when I think that they said there has been no progress in the talks.

‘We feel that we are losing the momentum that we gained.

‘We want to take the lead. We don’t want to be waiting to hear what he wants.

‘We want the strike dates set now.

‘I’ve got faith that the union knows what it’s doing. We have to believe in them.

‘But the action needs to be stepped up now.

‘The strike must not be called off just because there’s a general election.’

Cabin crew ‘are ready to take more action, if necessary’, a Unite BASSA section member told News Line yesterday.

The BASSA member said: ‘People are upbeat. Talks are going on and hopefully there won’t be a need for more strikes.

‘But if there is a need for another strike, members are ready for more action if needs be.

‘Willie Walsh is all about destroying the union.

‘BASSA is the strongest union at the airport, if they can break BASSA they’ll walk right through all the other unions.’

The figures released by BAA showed that 5.2 million passengers travelled through the airport last month.

BAA added that it lost a total of 200,000 passengers at its UK airports as a result of the industrial action.
BA has said that it lost between £40m and £45m as a result of the two walkouts by cabin crew.

Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports were also affected by the BA cabin crew action, with each airport losing an estimated one per cent to two per cent traffic as a direct result.