Classic British Flight Sim

Comrades! I can hardly believe my ears! Did the Tolpuddle Martyrs submit to transportation in vain?
Do you really think that we, the workers of the world , should just abdicate the proletarian struggle? Should we simply rely on the benevolence and philanthropy of the shareholders and investors? Submit ourselves to the charity and largesse of the greedy mill owners?

Ask the police how they feel about their no-strike clause - didn't do them much good when negotiating a pay rise, did it?

No, brothers, don't listen to the siren calls of common-sense and lack of capital, they are the oldest negotiating tricks in the book. There's always enough for director's bonuses, yachts and country houses. The only answer is to stand shoulder to shoulder on the picket line. Stand united against the tyranny of feudalism and slavery! It is workers who create the wealth and we are entitled to a fair share.

A union is a group of workers. Their elected representatives have the job of protecting their best interests. Many members in Alitalia will lose their jobs whatever happens so the reps are fighting for the best redundancy deal for them. The administrators will be looking to start a new efficient airline from the wreckage and will need to employ skilled workers from the old company. They will want to pay as little as possible. The union will be ensuring that their members are given a reasonable rate of pay for the job and not bullied into accepting slave wages, while the investors share out the profits at the workers expense. That's what unions are for. Not for abdicating at the first cry of insolvency!
Don't make it easy for the fat cats - they'd have you in the workhouse if they could

Solidarity, brothers! Stop this defeatist talk now!

Ian

Truly moving !

God spare me :brick:

We had a 'no strike' clause in the RN too even without a union. That said.. to have done so would be termed treason.. a word very few want to be associated with. We did it silently.. mentally.. to avoid detection ;-)

ATB

DaveB :tab:

DaveB wrote:We did it silently.. mentally.. to avoid detection ;-)

The perfect protest! So discreet that the bosses never realised you were revolting!

Ian

We were always revolting Ian.. in more ways than one but yes.. I take your point. It was only when 'Drafty' at HMS Centurion realised some 22% of Radio Operators were going PVR (Premature Voluntary Release.. ie, leaving before your time was served.. nothing sordid) that the screaming and shouting started. I suppose it was much the same as Alitalia wanting more money when there isn't any and thus cr@pping on everyone else left behind (if indeed anyone will be left behind). The beauty of having no union in our case (or of that in any of the armed forces) is if you don't like it, you vote with your feet and sod off! Unlike the RAF and Army (I'm led to believe), this PVR meant you giving HM 18months notice and a LOT of cr@p can fall your way in 18months as many found out when their next and final draft came and it wasn't Portsmouth or Plymouth or Rosyth but THE FALKLANDS!

As the old saying goes.. if you couldn't stand a joke, you shouldn't have joined up ;-)

My apologies to all for dragging this off topic although I did insert Alitalia in there somewhere

ATB

DaveB :tab:

DaveB wrote:I did insert Alitalia in there somewhere ...

... that the sun don't shine

I hate being a union member, they had too much power in BA when I was there and they have too much power on the railway. I'm in the RMT at the moment and reading the monthly newsletter is like going back to the 50s. It's riddled with out-dated communist cliches (just like in my silly post, except that they mean it!) and are presently campaigning for donations to their 'solidarity with Cuba' project :roll: I get angry and throw it away before I finish

I resigned once in protest over a ridiculous strike call and it took about a year before I was accepted as an eccentric rebel. As soon as I'd achieved that, I joined up again to keep them guessing!

The other side of the coin is that they have 99.9% membership and can bring the railway to a halt whenever they can put a spin on a contentious disagreement. The Train Operating Companies have to try to achieve strict targets and a strike would cost them millions in fines to Network Rail or the Government, so it's usually cheaper to give in to the power of the union. That means that we've got pretty good pay and conditions and one of the last final-salary pension schemes outside of the public sector. And in an industry where a brief lapse of concentration (even from a guard or a dispatcher) can have you facing an employment tribunal it's wise to have their reps and legal people behind you.

So I'm being a bit selfish. Most of what I've got is because of many years of strong union representation. You could argue that it's unfair that some people should get better rewards through bullying tactics but, like it or not, it's a fact of life. Power is the key. Apart from a huge social and cultural political upheaval (revolution) it's not about to change, so perhaps it's wise to align oneself with those that hold the power and to hell with your principles!

Oh yes - the Alitalia topic. Er, don't know :-(

Ian