[Anonymous]

[MartynSinclair]

Looking at the various reporting on Sky news and also the BA website, so far it seems that its a game of 2 halves. All that I am hearing thus far is:

1. How many aircraft are parked up at Heathrow…
2. The % of cabin crew working at Heathrow and Gatwick..
3. The % of flights taking off at Gatwick and Heathrow..
4. Unite saying the strike is a success…
5. Walsh saying he is more than delighted how his plans to beat the strike have worked…
6. TV cameras apparently banned from T5..
7. Walsh looking more like he is on a Sunday jolly – the man should smarten himself up and actually look like he is the CEO of a national airline – put a jacket and tie on and at least look like you are a director of British Airways PLC…
8. The senior Unite oficials who earlier came across so professionally now being repalced by the ‘flat cap’ union brigade being interviewed…

Depsite being a fan of BA and trying hard to come across in this blog as impartial, all I am seeing are two sets of people behaving like spoilt little brats, each trying to out do the other, with absolutely no attempt to actually resolve the problems and issues.

I realise that there are some extremely serious issues at hand and the travelling public as usual are the bottom of the food chain. Perhaps if Unite and BA focussed more on showing the public they are BOTH trying to find a solution rather than throwing their rattles out of their resepctive prams, a resolution to this situation would be far quicker to find.

So far the score seems to be:

Walsh 0 – 0 Unite

[Bunnahabhain]

GOAL! BA 1-0 Unite (Woodley o.g. 45+6)

Speaking to BBC news, Unite joint GS Tony Woodley just comes across as aggressive in tone and body language, while Walsh albeit not speaking directly to the BBC comes across as more measured, despite the previously mentioned questions over his ongoing casual dress – (VK on the other thread is much more fashion conscious!)

Woodley’s words might have more authority if his image was greyed out and they were read by an actor.

[VintageKrug]

I think the Unions are being very badly advised on how to run this strike.

Woodley is a liability; a dinosaur from another era. He and his cohorts have repeatedly set out factual inaccuracies (viz. 20 BA aircraft parked up in Shannon, when there are precisely 0 BA aircraft parked there).

The pics of a rabble of BA crew wearing Walsh masks with devil eyes, dressed in hoodies and waving Unite banners with only passing reference to BA reveals this strike for what it is; an attempt by Unite to grow its power base and become an even more destructive force in Britain by turning back the clock to the 1970s.

Much better would have been to ask all crew on the picket lines to wear uniforms, or at least smart attire, and demonstrate their calm professionalism. Instead they looked like a baying mob.

I am enjoying WW’s Alan Partridge style set pieces; each day they are getting better at lighting and make up; shame there’s not much they can do about the teeth…

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/strike-ballot-ba-response/public/en_gb

I think it’s actually good he is not wearing a tie, and this is a carefully planned look; he seems like a working man, not a CEO, relaxed and in control, and not needing the “armour” of a suit and tie.

[Tim2soza]

Yellow Card – Unite

For not understanding that airline competition will eat their lunch.

[Bunnahabhain]

Isn’t that a straight red now?

Even if it’s just a yellow, surely time for manager Brown to pull off the offender – pardon the vernacular – before the second half gets embarrassing (not to mention the away leg)…

[austline]

Well said VK. I think WW looks the part he comes across as the professional, that he is, and why should he have to wear a jacket and tie on the weekend? he looks hands on and in control, well done WW.

I think BA is winning the PR war. I have just booked another BA flight for May LHR/LOS/LHR/LAX.

[MartynSinclair]

All the commentaries so far are just describing a midfield passing game with most attempts to move forward resulting in boring dead balls. Both managers should pull their teams off for a time out, encourage the players to work as a team rather than for indivudual purposes and work a way through the the midfield. Unfotuantely, the longer this boring outfield play continues, the more likely it is that ‘extra time’ will be needed.

The Catholic Church have a proceudre that always seems to work. When the time to vote a new Pope all the Cardinals are locked away ‘concalve’ and they have to work it out together, without the cameras and without the PR gurus.

Lock Walsh and the Unions away and only unlock the door once a solution has been found. That way, the Airline can keep flying, the union can keep negotiating, the emplyees keep their jobs and the shareholders maintain their value.

Sounds too simple – its like Sunday league football, take the money away from the game and you get a purer form of the sport.

Come on BA and Unite, grow up, be mature and stop costing the business a fortune.

[Bunnahabhain]

Surely not really the best time for a comparison with the catholic church.

Could get some lobbyists in the dressing room at half time though.

[MartynSinclair]

Hey JimBannerman1,

I am just totally fed up with this BA situaiton. We have so much going on in this country that it is such a shame that 2 mature corporate entities are acting like aa bunch of 3 years olds in a kindergarten. The two major players are just sparring together like school kids. If you dress casually you think casually, if you dress like a hoody, you act like a hoody. For goodness sake, why on earth the two sides cant just lock themselves away and find a solution – i feel the that Unite would be better off going on an all out strike to force a solution.

I give VK respect – i beleive he is an economist, so has a clear understanding of the situation, but even with his technical knowledge, he cant even suggest a way forward. Its all pathetic. I can just imagine a smiling man, with a goatie beard who has kept his head down, on his Necker island, ready to buy up all the slots that BA will surely have to sell if this goes on much longer.

Time has never been better to learn from the Catholic church about how to solve problem………………..!

[Tim2soza]

JimBannerman1 – Lobbyists – For a suitable ‘cab fare’ fee of course! Trebles all round for the comrades.

[VintageKrug]

I am afraid any comparison to the way the Catholic Church operates is not exactly going to be a bastion of how things should be done, especially right now.

Unless you are proposing conflagrating Tony Woodley on a carbon offset pyre, with stake sourced from a sustainable woodland.

[MartynSinclair]

I am actually suggesting that Walsh and Woodley along with their respective teams, lock themselves away in a country retreat and only reappear once they can agree a solution.

Business Traveller can act as the conduit and earn some well deserving PR.

Mind you………it all seems far too easy and logical.

It really is shamefull.

Anyway – I am now left with no choice on Thursday other than to fly back to the Far East with an alternative non UK airline.

[ibelieveanything]

no a/c parked at shannon.they are too busy flying empty over europe

[VintageKrug]

I am also off to the Far East shortly, though this one went to Star Alliance as the timings suited my plans better.

I will be returning with BA, as planned.

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