Union Sets New Strike Vote Against British Airways [Do Unions create & protect jobs or destroy?]

LONDON - A union representing British Airways cabin crew said Monday it will hold a strike vote in a dispute over pay, job security and working conditions. The Unite union said it would continue to negotiate with the airline while the vote by 13,000 cabin crew goes ahead starting next week.

Cabin crew represented by the Unite union had voted overwhelmingly in favor of striking in December, but the airline won a court order to prevent a walkout.

"In notifying the company of this, I have reiterated that we want talks to continue, and that the union is prepared to meet any place, any time, to try and reach an agreement which addresses the real concerns of BA's skilled, loyal and professional employees while giving the company the savings it needs to stay airborne," said Len McCluskey, assistant general secretary of Unite. British Airways said in a statement that it was prepared for more negotiations but that the union's decision "calls into question its good faith in the negotiations we took part in throughout last week."

"If Unite eventually proceeds to an actual strike, we will continue to put our customers' interests first. We will provide assistance for those crew who wish to work normally and we will explore all options to enable us to operate the best flying programme possible under the circumstances," BA said.

"We will not allow Unite to ruin this airline and we believe we have the support of our customers and the vast majority of our staff in that objective."

Flight attendants union president hopeful of deal with American Airlines for pay increases, improvements in benefits and other items that would cost the airline money.

Since 2001, United Airlines and US Airways has entered into bankruptcy, terminated their pension plans and passed the unfunded liability to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). PBG's unfunded liability was $9.6 billion; plan participants lost $5.2 billion in benefits.

Bloomberg.com wrote in April that Delta Air Lines Inc., the world’s biggest carrier, had about $3 billion of debt due in '10 and were to pay rates at least double those of two years ago.

AMR Corp.’s American, the world’s second-biggest airline, had $1.1 billion in debt due in '09.

BA's ratings in '09 were reported as "constrained by "the cyclicality of the airline industry, volatile fuel costs, and profit concentration at BA's transatlantic network, everything geared on economic recovery in the US. BA had been on a credit watch by the S&P.

Jan. 2010, Japan Airlines Corp. (JAL), Asia’s biggest carrier and one of the largest airlines in the world, is set to undergo government-assisted bankruptcy in an effort to shed 13,000 jobs along with its massive debt.

The airlines have to be bleeding any revenues especially since the Detroit terror in the sky episode, followed by continued delays and cancellations of flights from suspicious activity by passengers in the air, in and about the terminals. The unions still contend, however, with the old militant unionist claim----that union pilots (and union airlines) are safer than non-union pilots or non-union airlines.

Let's just add the TSA to the "union mix", shall we?

RE: Airlines, "you-won't-be-able-to-get-there-from-here"

If asked, “are you in favor of unions”, most of my life, I would have leaned more against unions.

This was really based on my dad’s experiences when he worked for a power company. Seemed at that time, the union really didn’t do much for the worker or maybe put individuals at a slightly worse situation in regards to their positions at the corps.

Over the last decade, my opinion has changed quite a bit.

Workers need some sort of bargaining power.

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