Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

French air traffic controllers' strike latest European labor rebellion
http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/282318

French air traffic controllers' strike latest European labor trouble
A French air traffic controllers' strike has grounded dozens of flights in Paris, one of Europe's busiest air travel hubs. The first hints of spring appear to be bringing strike fever to Europe.

By Robert Marquand Staff writer
posted February 23, 2010 at 11:49 am EST

Paris —
With chills from a ghastly European winter in abeyance, thoughts on the continent are turning to labor strikes. This week, a French air traffic controllers' strike has roiled European travel, grounding half of the regional flights from Orly and a quarter from Charles DeGaulle, the two main Paris hubs, until Saturday.

French air traffic controllers, currently among the most well paid in Europe and required to work only 100 days a year, are angry at a proposal to consolidate air traffic control with some of their European neighbors, which they fear will lead to salary and benefit reductions.

Air travel-associated strikes in recent days have created delays and ticket-counter drama elsewhere as well. Pilots for Lufthansa ended a one-day strike last night, but there will be routing and delays until Friday, authorities say. In all, some 800 flights have been affected.

Battles over safety are at heart of UK rail disputes
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=20365

Posted: 7.25pm Tuesday 23 February 2010

News

Battles over safety are at the heart of rail disputes

Workers from National Rail protesting outside the transport department this week

by Matthew Cookson

Crucial struggles over safety are taking place across Britain’s rail and tube networks.

The rail regulator has told Network Rail, the company responsible for maintaining Britain’s railways, to make “efficiency savings” of 21 percent over the next five years.

“Privatisation has led to repeated attempts to cut maintenance,” said Dave Barnes, a Network Rail worker and member of the TSSA union.

“If this continues then the railways will no longer be safe. These cuts risk more disasters, such as Potters Bar, Grayrigg or Hatfield.”

Bosses are planning to begin their huge programme of cuts by slashing 1,500 rail maintenance jobs.

Safety has already been compromised by previous cuts. The RMT union has produced a report with information from hundreds of maintenance workers.

It shows that there are reduced track safety inspections, delays in the repair of faulty level crossings and reduced safety checks on railway signals.

British Airways cabin crew push for 10-day strike action

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/feb/21/ba-cabin-crew-strike-action

British Airways cabin crew push for 10-day strike action
Passengers face prolonged travel disruption next month if ballot endorses industrial action
Dan Milmo, transport correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 21 February 2010 21.35 GMT

BA is training volunteer cabin crew to help to staff flights in preparation for what could be a lengthy strike. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

British Airways passengers face prolonged travel disruption next month as cabin crew push for a strike lasting at least 10 days if a ballot endorses industrial action.

The Unite trade union announces the result of a strike poll tomorrow and officials are expecting a yes vote from more than 12,000 BA cabin crew in a dispute over staffing cuts. Despite having a 12-day Christmas strike blocked by legal action last year, disgruntled air stewards appear determined to send another defiant message to the airline, with 1 March the earliest possible date for a walkout.

According to an online poll organised by Bassa, Unite's cabin crew branch, more than two-thirds of members want a strike lasting at least ten days. More than 3,600 Bassa members voted in the poll – about a third of BA's entire cabin crew workforce.

Belgian rail workers take wildcat action over safety fears after fatal collision
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/belg-f17.shtml

Belgian rail workers take wildcat action over safety fears after fatal collision
By Julie Hyland
17 February 2010
Workers on Belgium’s rail network took wildcat strike action yesterday following the crash between two rush-hour trains near the capital, Brussels, the previous day that left 18 people dead and almost 200 injured.
Rail workers said that their spontaneous walk-out was due to concerns over safety conditions on the network and deteriorating working conditions, including a shortage of personnel that meant another accident such as the one at Halle, just 15 kilometres from Brussels, was likely.
According to reports, train drivers, signalling staff, machinists and technicians are all involved in the action. Depots across the country were blockaded, causing widespread disruption to train services, particularly in Wallonia in the south.
Rail officials said the strikes could continue for several days, compounding widespread disruption to the network, including routes connecting some of the major cities in Europe.
The SNCB said that 85 percent of its depots were affected by the strike. There were mass cancellations of trains and international services. Eurostar and Thalys, which run between France, Germany and the Netherlands, said that they would be unable to continue operating normal routes.

BA: United we stand
http://www.unitetheunion.com/campaigns/ba_united_we_stand.aspx

BA: United we stand campaign

A message from BA cabin crew

Unite at BA website
Fighting back at British Airways – airline warned Walsh's slash and burn strategy could destroy the company

British Airways is on a collision course with thousands of cabin crew amid draconian plans to axe 1,700 jobs, impose a two-year wage freeze and introduce a second tier workforce.

Unite cabin crew members at British Airways recognise the pressures facing the company in the midst of the current economic crisis. Negotiations have been going on for over a year, but despite cabin crew being asked to make the heftiest sacrifices of all, British Airways continues to provoke cabin crew by imposing changes and refusing to negotiate openly and fairly.

BA cabin crew offered changes to pay and working practices that would have made savings of more than £100 million for British Airways, but the company rejected these proposals and repeatedly walked away from talks while introducing provocative changes.

Cabin crew are the customers’ closest contact with the airline, does British Airways really want to change from being the world’s greatest airline to the world’s most basic airline?

BA suspends cabin staff in Facebook row over list of strike-breaking pilots
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/feb/12/bae-facebook-strike-action

BA suspends cabin staff in Facebook row over list of strike-breaking pilots
Tough action comes in middle of strike ballot as union accuses airline of 'internet McCarthyism'

The Guardian, Friday 12 February 2010

A pilot trains on a flight simulator near Heathrow. The airline could face strikes from 1 March Photograph: Graeme Robertson

British Airways has suspended 15 flight attendants who wrote Facebook comments and sent private emails about a "name and shame" list of pilots who volunteered to help break any strike, the Guardian has learned.

The airline has also demanded that unions reveal the identities of a further 32 members of the cabin crew union, Bassa, who posted messages about the list on a thread on its discussion forum.

The suspensions come in the middle of a strike ballot, due to close on 22 February, of BA's 13,000 cabin crew over imposed changes to working practices.

Unite, the union representing 12,000 BA cabin crew, condemned the airline for bullyboy tactics, claiming some members had been suspended merely because they were Facebook friends of others under investigation.

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=20190

Posted: 2.05pm Friday 5 February 2010

Strike disrupts London Underground

The picket line at Hainault on Friday morning was joined by RMT leader Bob Crow (right) (Pic: Socialist Worker)

by Siân Ruddick

A strike by 750 signals workers has caused major disruption on London Underground today. The RMT transport union members are angry about management's plans to enforce shift changes, break agreements and outsource work.

Around 25 signal workers picketed the Hainault depot in Essex this morning on the first day of a programme of strikes.

The workers are employed by the former Metronet company, a private consortium that went bust and had to be taken back in-house.

Steve Hedley, the RMT regional organiser told Socialist Worker, “It’s no secret there are going to be £60 million cuts from Metronet. We’ve drawn a line in the sand here, fighting these attacks.”

Strikes will continue every Sunday starting from 14 February until the signallers win their demands.

Other sections were encouraged to stay out in solidarity with the signal workers. Drivers in particular were concerned about safety.

One said, “I’m going to speak to my manager and tell him I’m not driving the train. If I get stuck in a tunnel with a train full of people, there is no one there to sort it.”

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=20113

Posted: 7.23pm Tuesday 26 January 2010

Exposed: secrets of the British Airways scab 'union'
by Sadie Robinson

A scab “union” has been set up at British Airways to undermine the cabin crew’s strike ballot.

The “Professional Cabin Crew Council” (PCCC) has emailed cabin crew telling them to vote no.

The workers’ Unite union believes that BA is directly funding it.

The PCCC smells of the bosses. Documents obtained by Socialist Worker show that it is out to destroy the union.

“Unite have acted illegally, they have misrepresented us, and they have unashamedly turned the public against us,” one PCCC document reads.

“We are therefore trying to spread the word through the cabin crew community to Vote No in the re-ballot and resign from Unite.”

The scab “union” is a shadowy organisation. It refuses to give any details about who has set it up—using alleged fear of Unite as an excuse.

“Unfortunately, we cannot tell you who we are because if we do, they will be on to us, and they will stop it. By any means,” it claims.

Its description of working life at BA will be alien to workers. In its latest flyer, “Myths about voting yes”, it argues, “We have suffered no real hardship.”

British Airways Is Training Scabs as Fill-Ins if Attendants Strike
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/business/global/26air.html?ref=business

By JULIA WERDIGIER
Published: January 25, 2010
LONDON — British Airways passengers could have their meals served by baggage handlers or pilots if its flight attendants strike.

Unite has asked the 12,000 British Airways cabin crew members it represents to vote through Feb. 22 on whether they should strike.

British Airways began Monday to teach employee volunteers, including engineers and pilots, how to serve meals, conduct safety demonstrations and sell duty-free goods on a flight if the attendants walk off the job. Unite, Britain’s biggest trade union, has asked the 12,000-member British Airways cabin crews it represents to vote now through Feb. 22 on whether to strike.

If a majority approves, a strike could start as early as the first week of March. Some analysts estimate a strike would cost the airline about £20 million, or $32.5 million, a day in lost revenue.

The union was forced to cancel a planned 12-day strike over the Christmas holiday after a court ruled the ballot unlawful because it included votes by employees who had already agreed to leave the airline.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/18/british-airways-staff-strike-break

British Airways to train ground staff as cabin crew to beat strike
Call for strike breakers by chief executive, Willie Walsh, has triggered an angry reaction from flight attendants

Dan Milmo
guardian.co.uk, Monday 18 January 2010 21.05 GMT

British Airways baggage handlers and check-in agents could find themselves handing out drinks and demonstrating the brace position on flights after the airline asked them to retrain as cabin crew in an attempt to avert a crippling strike from 1 March onwards.

The call for strike breakers by Willie Walsh, BA chief executive, triggered an angry reaction from flight attendants today as the Unite trade union announced a new ballot on industrial action.

In a letter to BA's 38,000 staff, Walsh offered the opportunity to become "volunteer cabin crew". He said: "I am asking for volunteers to back BA by training to work alongside cabin crew who choose not to support a strike, so we are ready to keep our customers flying as much as we possibly can if this strike goes ahead."

BA is confident that staff can be trained and certified by the beginning of March, which is the earliest possible date for a cabin crew walkout if, as expected, about 12,000 employees vote for industrial action over staffing cuts.