BA cabin crew blacklisting strike starts

BA strikers protest outside M&S on Oxford Street, 21 January photo Neil Cafferky, photo Neil Cafferky (Click to enlarge)

Mixed fleet cabin crew started a 16-day strike on 1 July. Up until the start of the latest strike, mixed fleet cabin crew had been on strike for 26 days.

The strike is over pay and the sanctioning of striking workers which as Unite say is tantamount to blacklisting. Sanctions have included cabin crew seeing bonus payments worth hundreds of pounds taken away and the removal of staff travel concessions.

It is clear just from the full car park at Bedfont Football club where the strikers meet that this strike is very well supported. There's a very determined mood with 30 more mixed fleet cabin crew joining Unite just today. If anything the protest lines around Heathrow are bigger than ever.

The strikers took their protest on the road too, with a protest at the Qatar airline headquarters in Earls Court, west London on 5 July. And on 8 July strikers will be going on the Pride march in central London and will also be attending the Durham Miners Gala.

Chris Newby

Donate to the Socialist Party

Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.

Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.

We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to click here to donate to our Fighting Fund.