Unite wanted to have its cake and eat it

Unite union leader Tony Woodley is fooling no one with his expression of disappointment that the breakdown of talks with British Airways meant that the airline’s cabin crew members today began a three-day strike. Mr Woodley accuses BA of wanting a war with the union, claims that the hawks within BA management have won the day and claims that his members wanted to negotiate sensibly but had been outmanoeuvred by the airline.

It is entirely possible that his members did, indeed, want to negotiate, but what is quite apparent is that Mr Woodley had no such intention. Why else would Unite have announced a week ago that the strikes would go ahead, while simultaneously saying that cabin crew would vote on a new offer tabled by BA?

If the union was as desperate for a negotiated settlement as Mr Woodley would now have us believe, it would have postponed the strike until after the ballot of members, and reinstated the action if the offer was rejected. The only interpretation that can be placed on Unite continuing with its strike was that the leadership wanted to have its cake and eat it; to consider an offer it was clearly minded to accept while simultaneously giving BA chief executive Willie Walsh a bloody nose.

Having set out to teach the airline a lesson, Mr Woodley can hardly complain now that the tables have been turned and he faces the ignominy of explaining to his members why the offer in front of them is significantly worse than what was on offer a week ago. He will, of course, put the blame squarely at the door of BA management. Perhaps someone could buy him a mirror so he can see who is really at fault.