Road to Nowhere
Unite members employed as cabin crew with British Airways (BA) - have voted for more strikes in their long running and bitter dispute.
Here's a press statement released by the union announcing the news - which omits to say that for the first time - the number of union members balloted has fallen below 10,000.
What is happening is that Unite members who are against the strike are simply voting with their feet - by leaving the union - which is digging its members into an ever deeper hole.
5751 union members is not a majority of the 13,500 strong workforce - in fact it represents only 42.6% of BA's cabin crew.
So what does the union think more strikes will achieve?
"BA vote shows cabin crew remain determined"
28 March 2011
"British Airways cabin crew, who are members of Unite the union, have voted to back strike action at the airline.
In the latest ballot Unite members voted by a big majority (5,751 to 1,579) of 78.5% - in favour of more industrial action - with 10,220 members eligible to vote - a turnout of 72%.
But BA is pointing out - quite sensibly - that the workforce is actually 13,500 strong - and that those in favour of striking represent less than half of the total cabin crew.
Of the just under 10,000 crew polled, some 83 per cent of the 6,981 who returned valid voting papers voted yes to strike action.
Unite said this vote - the fourth official ballot in two years - reflects the continued resilience among the crew who were being balloted on a range of anti-union management measures including sanctions applied to some 6,700 crew who took lawful strike action last year.
Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary, said: "This vote shows that cabin crew remain determined to win justice. We urge BA's boardroom to see this as a clear message that they must think again about how to regain the trust and confidence of a significant part of their cabin crew operation.
"We continue to be in discussions with the company to find a solution to this long-running dispute."
The number of ballot papers returned was 6,985 but with four of those invalid, the total valid vote was 6,981.
Of this,
5,811 crew voted YES to strike action
1,170 crew voted NO to strike action
There were four invalid ballot papers. The turnout was 72 percent."
Here's a press statement released by the union announcing the news - which omits to say that for the first time - the number of union members balloted has fallen below 10,000.
What is happening is that Unite members who are against the strike are simply voting with their feet - by leaving the union - which is digging its members into an ever deeper hole.
5751 union members is not a majority of the 13,500 strong workforce - in fact it represents only 42.6% of BA's cabin crew.
So what does the union think more strikes will achieve?
"BA vote shows cabin crew remain determined"
28 March 2011
"British Airways cabin crew, who are members of Unite the union, have voted to back strike action at the airline.
In the latest ballot Unite members voted by a big majority (5,751 to 1,579) of 78.5% - in favour of more industrial action - with 10,220 members eligible to vote - a turnout of 72%.
But BA is pointing out - quite sensibly - that the workforce is actually 13,500 strong - and that those in favour of striking represent less than half of the total cabin crew.
Of the just under 10,000 crew polled, some 83 per cent of the 6,981 who returned valid voting papers voted yes to strike action.
Unite said this vote - the fourth official ballot in two years - reflects the continued resilience among the crew who were being balloted on a range of anti-union management measures including sanctions applied to some 6,700 crew who took lawful strike action last year.
Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary, said: "This vote shows that cabin crew remain determined to win justice. We urge BA's boardroom to see this as a clear message that they must think again about how to regain the trust and confidence of a significant part of their cabin crew operation.
"We continue to be in discussions with the company to find a solution to this long-running dispute."
The number of ballot papers returned was 6,985 but with four of those invalid, the total valid vote was 6,981.
Of this,
5,811 crew voted YES to strike action
1,170 crew voted NO to strike action
There were four invalid ballot papers. The turnout was 72 percent."
