The Big Bang (or When an Airline's Reputation Flies South!)
Astronomers still hear the echoes of the “Big Bang” when they point their radio telescopes to the furthest reaches of the galaxy. Students of negotiation have their own equivalent here in the UK – it’s a kind of a low burbling noise that, every so often, geysers into life with some new announcement, tweet, public utterance or strike. It is, of course, the ongoing dispute between British Airways and the members of its cabin crew represented by the trade union UNITE, a damaging dispute that (so far):
Furthermore, it is a strike that has turned rather nasty in recent months with threat and counter-threat seemingly being traded more effectively than the variables were traded in the actual negotiation itself. Finally though, I think that its dénouement is in sight.
I say that because of the recent ballot result which, on the face of it, gave the union a mandate for further strikes – roughly 2-1 in favor of further action – but which, in reality, spoke of an increasing level of frustration amongst UNITE’s members and, critically, a major schism amongst the cabin crew. In the Guardian of 20 July, it is noted that less than half the eligible 11000 workforce actually bothered to register their opinion. Put that another way: 3419 voted for further strike action; 1686 voted against strike action and 5905 didn’t bother voting at all–hardly a mandate for a further punishing round of strikes, I should have thought.
Interesting stuff, but here’s something else: the latest