Monument v Movement
Michael McGahey - the former NUM Scotland leader - was no slouch at standing up for his members - the miners.
One of his most famous and insightful comments came during the miners' strike of 1984/85 - when he proclaimed - with supreme confidence - that the unions were a 'movement' not a 'monument'.
In other words, given fair and reasonable treatment - the unions were not stuck in the past - and could move with the times.
Yet, Michael McGahey was undone by intransigence - both inside and outside the NUM (National Union of Mineworkers) - so we will never know whether a different outcome to that bitter dispute was ever possible.
But is history now repeating itself - in the airline industry.
British Airways (BA) is hundreds of millions of pounds a year - and that was before an abortive strike last Christmas which was overturned in the courts at the last minute - to widespread public widespread acclaim.
BA has cut back on the number of cabin crew per flight - so the remaining staff must make ends meet - by maintaining levels of service to customers within the reduced numbers.
The Unite trade union's response - was a complete shutdown over the entire Christmas period - timed, of course, to cause maximum disruption to the travelling public.
Yet trade unions are not immune to life's business realities.
Shortly after Unison was born in 1993 (following a merger of three separate unions COHSE, NUPE and NALGO) - I can say from personal experience - that the number of staff was cut by 25% - much more than BA, by the way.
Those that remained had to continue providing a 'seamless' service to union members - and they did just that - fewer people kept the show on the road.
Despite the odd howl of protest - the business facts of life were clear - live within your means.
Lost of people left - on a voluntary basis - despite the obvious difficulties this created for their colleagues who had to fill in the gaps.
The new union could not afford to run three shadow organisations - a single union meant that big savings or economies could be made - that was the whole point of the exercise, after all.
"The times they were a-changin' ", to paraphrase Bob Dylan.
Who knows what Michael McGahey would made of BA and its industrial relations - but one thing's for sure - he would have set out a better negotiating position than the present leadership of Unite.
One of his most famous and insightful comments came during the miners' strike of 1984/85 - when he proclaimed - with supreme confidence - that the unions were a 'movement' not a 'monument'.
In other words, given fair and reasonable treatment - the unions were not stuck in the past - and could move with the times.
Yet, Michael McGahey was undone by intransigence - both inside and outside the NUM (National Union of Mineworkers) - so we will never know whether a different outcome to that bitter dispute was ever possible.
But is history now repeating itself - in the airline industry.
British Airways (BA) is hundreds of millions of pounds a year - and that was before an abortive strike last Christmas which was overturned in the courts at the last minute - to widespread public widespread acclaim.
BA has cut back on the number of cabin crew per flight - so the remaining staff must make ends meet - by maintaining levels of service to customers within the reduced numbers.
The Unite trade union's response - was a complete shutdown over the entire Christmas period - timed, of course, to cause maximum disruption to the travelling public.
Yet trade unions are not immune to life's business realities.
Shortly after Unison was born in 1993 (following a merger of three separate unions COHSE, NUPE and NALGO) - I can say from personal experience - that the number of staff was cut by 25% - much more than BA, by the way.
Those that remained had to continue providing a 'seamless' service to union members - and they did just that - fewer people kept the show on the road.
Despite the odd howl of protest - the business facts of life were clear - live within your means.
Lost of people left - on a voluntary basis - despite the obvious difficulties this created for their colleagues who had to fill in the gaps.
The new union could not afford to run three shadow organisations - a single union meant that big savings or economies could be made - that was the whole point of the exercise, after all.
"The times they were a-changin' ", to paraphrase Bob Dylan.
Who knows what Michael McGahey would made of BA and its industrial relations - but one thing's for sure - he would have set out a better negotiating position than the present leadership of Unite.
