BA dispute (From The Northern Echo)

BA dispute

11:40am Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

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ONE of the delegates to the National Development Programme Lifelong Learning in the Workplace project, which I helped to run, raised a problem that the people in his workplace were facing. The firm was not prepared to enable its workers to gain the paper qualifications they could hold because they might leave for other jobs.

The firm agreed to hold a meeting between the senior managers and the union that was mediated by the people running the project. The key point from the union side was that there was no intention of using the qualifications as a springboard from an otherwise good employer.

The management said they did not understand the process required to enable people to get the paper qualifications. We explained the route to them and the problem as later settled.

The case of British Airways and its cabin crews is the other way round. Management has turned down an offer from the union which would have given the company everything it said it wanted while also meeting the cabin crews’ concerns.

They fully understand the difficulties faced by BA, but BA has continued with a dictatorial approach to a set of highly professional people rather than seek mediation.

Bill Morehead, Darlington.