Labour, Unite and the BA strike


by Dave Osler    
2:32 pm - March 15th 2010

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Lord Adonis says the British Airways strike is ‘deplorable’, and Gordon Brown says the British Airways strike is ‘deplorable’. Adonis calls the impending walkout ‘totally unjustified’, but Brown holds back and simply designates it ‘unjustified’.

Woooah! Did you see that? The prime minister failed to use an adverb of degree. Labour leadership split! Hold the front page!

Such is the underlying logic of what was at the time of writing the lead story on the Daily Telegraph website, which was running under the headline:  ‘Brown declines to criticise Unite over BA strike’.

I notice that the Torygraph piece runs under the triple by-line of Rosa Prince, Heidi Blake and Chris Irvine, so perhaps the publication’s sub-editors made some sort of slip in bolting three pieces of copy together. Or perhaps this really is plain and simple distortion of the truth, in line with the newspaper’s strident rightwing agenda.

The nub of the article is the alleged contrast between a speech over the weekend by the transport secretary, which bitterly attacked the Unite union for planning a stoppage at British Airways, and the PM’s remarks in a broadcast interview today, in which he, er, bitterly attacked the Unite union for planning a stoppage at British Airways.

Mr Brown was careful to avoid criticising the union on BBC Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour this morning.

Asked about the strike, he said: “It’s the wrong time. It’s unjustifed. It’s deplorable.”

He added: “It’s not in the company’s interest, it’s not in the workers’ interest, it’s not in the national interest.”

He said that while the strike was “regrettable and not acceptable”, ministers should try to act as honest brokers between the company and the trade union, Unite. “It is worthy of effort to try to prevent it,” he said.

His words contast [sic] with the language used by the Transport Secretary described the seven days of planned walkouts by thousands of cabin crew as “deplorable” and “totally unjustified”.

If there is a contrast evident here, it totally escapes me. And if that’s ‘declining to criticise the strike’, one shudders to think what would Brown have had to say to make his disapproval clear to our trio of Telegraph hacks.

Indeed, these paragraphs get things so comprehensively arse about tit that they deserve to be immortalised in journo training textbooks, just to show young reporters how not to write up a political interview.

But the real target of the invective is clearly Britain’s biggest trade union, which has donated £11m to Labour over the last three years. This was the cue for more supreme silliness from the Tory front bench:

George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said: ‘The Unite union is becoming Labour’s new militant tendency — buying influence, fixing candidate selections and ensuring its political director Charlie Whelan has an open access to Downing Street.

Yeah, because that’s just what the Millies were like, innit? Forever running out of Number Ten with suitcases full of cash, so that Labour politicians had to funds to carry out policies of which they disapproved.

Then again, I suppose it is quite easy for Old Etonians to get confused between trade unionists and Trotskyists. They are all oiks, after all.

They say Charlie has occasionally been known to relapse into profanity. Just this once, nobody could particularly blame him.

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About the author
Dave Osler is a regular contributor. He is a British journalist and author, ex-punk and ex-Trot. Also at: Dave's Part
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Reader comments


1. Tim J

Sorry, too late. The Daily Mash have already written the definitive article on the strike.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/call-us-'deplorable‘,-union-orders-brown-201003152559/

Industrial relations consultant Nathan Muir said: “The union sees it as a win-win. If the strike goes ahead then Unite gets to fulfill its lifelong ambition of destroying Margaret Thatcher’s favourite airline.

“If the strike is called off then Brown gets the credit, it improves Labour’s election chances and they all continue with their plan to turn Britain into a slightly bleaker and less charming version of North Korea.”

2. Watchman

However you look at it, it would take a politician of a particularly warped level of genius to fail to hit the open goal that a strike, affecting thousands of voters, just before a general election, with a government whose largest funder is the union backing the strike, would present.

Fortunately, those politicians may be on the Conservative benches. Be interesting to see, if the strike goes ahead, how this is played.

3. JuliaM

That ‘Mash’ article also correctly identified who is currently on top in that relationship too… :)

4. cjcjc

What proportion of the new intake of Labour MP’s will be sponsored by Unite?

5. vinny

Marvellous spectacle of the unelected Lord Adonis throwing his toys out of the pram about the democratic decision of a group of workers to take industrial action. That’s NuLabour ‘in hock to the unions for you’, innit?

Good to hear ‘Call Me Dave’ got booed at Lewisham College this afternoon BTW during a ‘Dave:Live ‘n Unplugged’ event.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/wintour-and-watt/2010/mar/15/davidcameron-general-election-2010

6. LO

What proportion of the new intake of Tory MPs will be sponsored by Ashcroft?

(I know. I know, whatabout, whatabout. Its not fair, but I couldn’t resist)

7. Matpraslin

This crew dispute it seems to me has been orchestrated by BA CEO, William Walsh. He has plan this union busting process for some years. Do not under estimate BA 1000′s of men and women’s votes. They are not militants from the 70′s. They are decent hard working people who are trying to fight Mr Walsh’s bullying tactics. Mr Walsh does not negotiate he imposes. He would love you to believe the opposite that the BA Crew do not want to negotiate. He has manipulated the media and even its internal staff making them believe that their colleagues are nothing more than inflexible, militant workforce who wants to ruin their company… This is a lie and pure BA’s spin. The timing has been organised to coincide with a general election. The public has been mislaid and Brown and Adonis have not hesitated to stab 1000′s of women and men in the back for their own advancement. SHAME ON THEM. Cabin Crew at BA offered generous pay cuts which Mr Wlash turned down. Just ask yourselves WHY?

8. Craig Barker

Is it only me that thinks this strike is ridiculous? I would be prepared to bet that for every person at BA who is striking there would be one person whom is out of work, is capable of that job and would be more than willing to work for BA. There are so many people who are out of work or who have had their pay cut during this recession. These people should be grateful to have a job. What will they do if BA collapse? Surely making their employer suffer financially will jeopardise everyones job at BA? That does not even take into consideration all the people who use BA, that are suffering as a result of the employees selfishness. If you don’t like your job. Leave.


Reactions: Twitter, blogs
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