British Airways

This dispute has the look and feel of 1980s union strife; a time we all thought was long past. Here we apparently have a struggling company - our national airline - under the cosh of overpaid and cosseted staff backed by an old-style reactionary and powerful union. I don't think so. Even in this imagined past it was almost always the weakness and incompetence of management that created and sustained the cancer of labour conflict. And so it is true today of British Airways. It can be argued that ever since Willie Walsh took over the airline has lurched from one self-inflicted catastrophe to another. It started with the selling off of BA's own successful low cost airline that could have pointed the way to its future - a big mistake looking back. Then travails with terminal five, poor customer relations, the lack of regional flights - it all adds up. Bullying staff is not the answer; there are plenty of examples of good corporate/union relations in Britain today that Walsh can learn from. Maybe he can make a start by offering to cut his own salary, pension and perks in solidarity with his expectations from employees.
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