Daily Telegraph Editorial, July 24
What made the action at Heathrow so disruptive was that the airline's management entirely failed to anticipate it ... It still does not seem to have occurred to anyone in authority that imposing a clearly unpopular change might lead to this sort of trouble. When it did, the top brass of both the airline and the unions were caught badly on the hop ...
"The dispute over the new swipe] cards should never have been allowed to blow up as it has. But while all sides seem to accept that the cards are not, in themselves, of the first importance, nor are they matter on which the management can now afford to lose. In the face of relentless competitive pressure, British Airways has no choice but to keep on raising its game. Its employees should be under no illusion that if it does not, the prophets of doom could yet be proved right."
Daily Mail Editorial, July 24
It is impossible to feel anything but deep foreboding over the tragedy that now threatens BA. At the best of times, this would be a nightmare. In the aftermath of September 11, with airlines all over the world struggling to survive, it is utter disaster ...
"Clearly, management has some soul-searching to do over why this seemingly minor squabble has spiralled so hopelessly out of control. But there are serious questions for the unions, too - particularly the GMB, which seems to be spoiling for a fight. How short memories are. Industrial militancy and managerial failures destroyed British Leyland and much of this country's manufacturing base before Thatcherite reforms stopped the lunacy. Isn't it imperative both sides remember the lessons and step back from the brink?"
Sun Editorial, July 24
The return of wildcat strikes to the British industrial landscape is deeply disturbing ... This week we have seen a return to the bad old days of workers causing absolute mayhem by striking illegally. BA has been unfairly targeted and thousands of families have had their holidays ruined. It is always law-abiding people who get kicked in the teeth when these selfish walkouts are called. Wildcat strikes will put this country on the fast track to anarchy."
Financial Times Editorial, July 24
Already, Rod Eddington, BA's chief executive, has estimated the direct cost to the company in "tens of millions of pounds", but the indirect costs arising from reputational damage to the company will be greater. No longer can BA claim to guarantee high quality service in comparison with its lowcost rivals ...
BA's cost-saving programme has been remarkably successful, propelling the company back into profit and enabling it to look forward without the imminent threat of bankruptcy, so common in the airline industry. Mr Eddington and his management team now know they cannot walk on water."
Times Editorial, July 24
This dispute is less about a turf war between unions (or management brutality to workers) than about the particular problems of a single industry. One strike does not a summer of discontent make. If intelligently mediated now... there is no reason to think the BA action will spread across the company.
"The strike will serve a useful purpose if it sharpens resolve in the Labour party and the unions to find better ways of cooperating... The government recognises as problems both its relationship with the trade unions, and with the Labour party grass roots ... In the long term, there are signs that Labour's old dependence on financial backing from the unions may be broken by the replacement of today's collective affiliation to the party with a new system of individual affiliations ... A peace pact carrying party and unions through the next election is in the unions' interests as much as in Mr Blair's."
