A day after the courts decided to reverse the injunction against Unite's right to call another series of cabin crew strikes, BA announce record losses of over £500m. Unite plans to go ahead with the strikes.
My view is that the union has its own political agenda to break Willie Walsh and doesn't give a damn about the company or the people it represents. The strikes will not have any effect except to drive away customers and cause even more job losses.
Walsh wants to break the union.
It has a stranglehold that stops his company from competing fairly against other airlines, but he knows that to try to do this during good economic times would be difficult for BA shareholders to stomach. Much easier to do this when the company is struggling so he can demonstrate the foolhardiness of strike action.
Unite are strong on principle and rhetoric but weak on all other counts such as pragmatism, regard for their members' jobs, and simple economics. Unfortunately the cabin staff were too stupid to realise they were being manipulated by the union.
Whether they are right or wrong, right now they are stupid.
BA cannot clock up such big losses indefinitely. It is really a pension scheme (in deficit) that flies some aeroplanes. If it goes belly-up there are plenty of airlines with spare capacity to take over their routes and slots. And all their staff would lose their BA jobs and perks, and some would be hired by other airlines at lower rates of pay. The rest would be unemployed.
There are times when reality must be faced and this is one of them.