Thursday 13 May 2010

The BA Strikes

This will be a very short blog.
How on earth have Willie Walsh and the rest of BA top management failed to grasp the fact that this dispute is primarily about HOW they talk to the appointed representatives of their staff. It is understood by the travelling public that BA have great pressure on them with the advent of so many low cost airlines. The market place is more difficult for them. That is change and change never works out in the way you would like.
But what has to be grasped here is that the way you approach your staff is of paramount importance. Management do have the right to manage but why not take a leaf our of the Conservative party's book and work in partnership with staff? Years ago, when Volvo had industrial disputes, they looked beyond the box and saw that the troubles emanated from a section on the assembly line who worked underneath the partly assembled cars. It was the old complaint, having to work above your head. So they re-designed the assembly line so that the cars were on their sides and the welding was no longer done overhead. It worked. Why not look deeper and find out if there is another way to address the problems and then talk to the staff?
Bullying staff has never worked and it never will.

1 comment:

  1. You know more about this sort of thing than I, but we nevertheless seem to agree. See my blog:
    http://occidentis.blogspot.com/2010/07/labour-versus-capital_01.html

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