BA and Unite accusing each other of intimidation

British Airways cabin crew today reacted with fury to news that 15 staff at the airline have been suspended after allegedly intimidating other colleagues on Facebook.

In a deterioration of the ongoing spat between management and cabin crew, BA confirmed last night that 15 employees had been suspended pending an investigation.

The action follows a stern warning by British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh that any staff who engage in bullying or intimidation will be “rooted out of BA” and dismissed.

The 15 flight attendants involved in the incident had allegedly sent private emails about a “name and shame” list of pilots who have volunteered to help break any strike.

British Airways last month invited employees from across the company to train as cabin crew in order to minimise the disruption caused by the BA strike threat. The Unite union is in the process of balloting its members for industrial action over a dispute about working conditions.

“A number of staff have been suspended while we carry out investigations,” BA said. “As that investigation is happening at the moment, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”

The flag carrier also demanded that unions reveal the identities of another 32 members of the cabin crew body BASSA who posted messages about the volunteer list on a discussion forum.

Unite assistant general secretary Len McCluskey reacted angrily to the Facebook suspensions, telling the press: “This bears all the hallmarks of a management drunk on its own machismo, regardless of the damage done to the airline’s image and reputation. It is now time for British Airways’ management to quit harassing its workforce and get back to negotiating a solution to the dispute.”

It is thought that the staff under investigation had received or forwarded a list of names of BA “strike breaker” staff via the private messaging facility on social networking website Facebook.

British Airways is running its volunteer programme in an attempt to maximise the number of flights running during any industrial action, which could start as soon as 1 March. An earlier poll in December came out 90 per cent in favour of a strike, but the High Court blocked it on a technicality.

Ironically, the dispute comes just days after BA management themselves fought off accusations of intimidation, following news that Mr Walsh had erected a ‘graffiti wall’ at the company’s offices in Waterside onto which staff were encouraged to scrawl pro-BA messages.

© Cheapflights Ltd (Creative Commons image: BriYYZ / Flickr)

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