Len McCluskey blows his cool and announces plans for British Airways cabin crew strikes

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• AJA says:

  28 Jul28 July 10:45

  Oh dear. Seems Alex rattled Len’s cage. It seems daft to proceed to industrial action and I wonder when the union thinks that is supposed to happen? I would like to see Alex’s email he sent to Len.

• Chris says:

  28 Jul28 July 10:46

  Depending on how many crew are willing to work to provide some degree of service; a strike likely works in BA’s favour when there is so little flying going on.

• 351 says:

  28 Jul28 July 10:50

  This is just ridiculous. I mean let’s be honest they didn’t engage all this while to enable this to be the next step when there was any slim hope of recovery upon lockdown easing. It’s pathetic by Unite frankly. BA are bad fine, but Unite seem willing to down the airline itself which is bizarre then engaging properly with the airline. Such a “toys out of the pram” letter!

  • J says:

    28 Jul28 July 11:29

    It’s the sort of letter I imagine we’ve all drafted at some point, but most would read it again and delete with quiet embarrassment.

    • 351 says:

      28 Jul28 July 11:34

      I’m sure you would. This is not only further lack of professionalism from Unite but also shockingly xenophobic. Totally unacceptable. And guess what it’s 90 days (double minimum legal consultation time) and no fire and rehire. As Rob has written also, there is no “fire and rehire” of all staff. BA is in trouble there’s no doubt about that and yes whilst initially they seemed brutal, they have softened a lot and changed quite a lot of things, the fact it still doesn’t play well to BASSA is likely the main sticking point here but frankly heads need to be taken out of the sand!

      • Nick_C says:

        28 Jul28 July 15:49

        It’s a poor letter, but in what way is it xenophobic?

        • Rhys says:

          28 Jul28 July 15:52

          The suggestion that Alex Cruz doesn’t understand ‘British values’ because he’s Spanish:

          “Perhaps you don’t understand that the British sense of ‘Fair Play’ runs deep in the psyche of the British people.”

        • Nick_C says:

          28 Jul28 July 16:16

          “The suggestion that Alex Cruz doesn’t understand ‘British values’ because he’s Spanish:”

          But that’s not Xenophobia. Its not a fear or hatred of foreigners.

          It is quite possible that McCluskey believes that Cruz doesn’t understand British values because he is new to the UK and hasn’t taken the trouble to understand British culture. That would be an issue of competence.

          If McCluskey was xenophobic, why would he believe Vázquez Romero would deal with the matter more competently?

          I can see that the comment might be considered racist if McCluskey is making the suggestion purely on the grounds of Cruz’s nationality, but we don’t know what was in the mind of the person who drafted the letter. I think a suggestion of incompetence is more likely than racism.

          But of course some people like to throw around unwarranted accusations of racism or xenophobia at the drop of a hat.

        • Rhys says:

          28 Jul28 July 16:43

          Cruz isn’t new to the UK – he’s lived here on and off for the better part of two decades!

          Regardless of whether McCluskey intended to imply that somehow Cruz cannot understand ‘British values,’ the phrasing certainly seems to suggest that Cruz is less competent because he is Spanish. McCluskey could easily have made the point about ‘fair play’ values without characterising them as ‘British’ and placing Cruz in opposition – as if Britain has a monopoly on the concept!

          I’m not sure the same accusation could or would be levelled at a British-born CEO.

        • J says:

          28 Jul28 July 16:48

          @Nick_C: It implies that fair play is culturally reserved for the British and not seen in the Spanish. I could understand if he was talking about dunking digestives in milky tea or forming long queues to eat strawberries in SW19, but he isn’t. He’s basically saying, if you are Spanish, you are a cheat.

        • Nick_C says:

          28 Jul28 July 17:22

          I think the wording suggests that McCluskey believes Cruz is less competent because he does not understand British culture and values.

          That is a criticism of Cruz personally; not all foreigners and not all Spaniards. McCluskey is suggesting that Cruz is incompetent, but seems to have confidence in (the Spanish foreigner) Vázquez Romero. This is not compatible with the suggestion that McCluskey is xenophobic. A suggestion that he wanted to raise the matter with Walsh could have been seen that way.

          No one is claiming that “Britain” has a monopoly on fair play, but it is seen as a characteristic of Britain and the British. Many foreigners recognise that Britain has a sense of fair play, and that is one of the things that attracts them to the UK.

• Froggitt says:

  28 Jul28 July 11:00

  Who needs a Coronavirus when you’ve got Red Len?

• jil says:

  28 Jul28 July 11:03

  Union thinks BA is afraid of a strike at this time?

  • Doug M says:

    28 Jul28 July 11:44

    Depends on whether you can make the strike effective or not.

    • Rob says:

      28 Jul28 July 11:56

      Given that Mixed Fleet won’t strike, given they are marginally better off in £ terms with the new deal, and there are enough MF to operate the current schedule, I’m guessing not!

      • Doug M says:

        28 Jul28 July 12:22

        Probably true. Strikes only work when you inflict real pain. Whether MF are better off seems to be determined by who you listen to. It’s hard to believe they can be worse off and retain staff for any length of time. Given the structure of pay in MF it must be very hard to determine the truth of any statement.

        • Paul74 says:

          28 Jul28 July 14:39

          Yes.

• The Lord says:

  28 Jul28 July 11:12

  ‘I am both staggered and offended by your arrogance’ Has he looked in the mirror?

• J says:

  28 Jul28 July 11:23

  “Perhaps you don’t understand that the British sense of ‘Fair Play’ runs deep in the psyche of the British people.” – the not so subtle xenophobia of that line is appalling.

  • Doug M says:

    28 Jul28 July 11:27

    Indeed. The gloves are off.

  • Anna says:

    28 Jul28 July 11:30

    Quite. A fraught time for Anglo-Spanish relations all round!

    • insider says:

      28 Jul28 July 12:07

      perhaps BA cancelled Len’s holiday trip down to Alicante and that was the final straw?

  • Lady London says:

    28 Jul28 July 13:44

    not fair at all, that remark.

    wondering if our Len had had a few before he wrote that.

• Fernandez says:

  28 Jul28 July 11:27

  I do genuily wonder on which planet Len resides, he seems to have lost all sense of reality.

  • Dubious says:

    28 Jul28 July 12:26

    Well, he needs to show ‘his’ members and ‘shop staff’ that he’s doing something…
    I can believe this sort of unfriendly emails occur, but making them public seems a bit odd.

    Given his strength of feeling I don’t quite get why he hasn’t focused some of his frustration at the owners of the company/parent company, i.e. the Shareholders?

    • insider says:

      28 Jul28 July 12:36

      I think they have. Well at least they’ve had their #BAbetrayal protests outside the offices of some of the investors.

      Also I don’t think Akbar in Qatar will be too sympathetic to Len’s plight.

  • Spursdebs says:

    28 Jul28 July 13:41

    Planet snout in trough of the working people. Paid over £145k plus all the extra goodies he can get all paid from subs by people often on minimum wage.
    Wasn’t it red Len who moved the mandatory age he had to retire from Union as leader so he could squeeze himself a few more years of ££££ out of members?

    • Paul74 says:

      28 Jul28 July 14:47

      That’s not an unreasonable salary considering Unite has over a million members. Furthermore, the union has General Secretary elections so the members have had opportunities remove him if they’ve been unsatisfied.

    • dezbez says:

      28 Jul28 July 18:23

      It certainly does have a whiff of George Orwell about it. The very thing he rails against. Not forgetting (& without wanting to get too political), he was a big advocate of Brexit, which I have a feeling will not benefit the majority of his members in the long term.

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