To strike or not to strike?

Today it was announced that my former employer, British Airways may well be suffering the same fate as The Royal Mail.

Unison has announced today that they are to ballot their 14,000 cabin crew members about whether to take strike action. Talks between BA and the unions have been going on for quite some time; even when I was still with the company, however it seems talks have stalled and Unison see this as the only option.

It is apparent at a time like this that BA has to do something to stop the £1 million a day they are losing. They are also set to make another loss this year, leaving people in no doubt they are in a fight for survival.

I don’t think it would be fair to comment personally on the situation at BA, but my question would be ‘is it right to strike?’ I know that seems an odd question, but my point is this. In the case of the Royal Mail and possibly BA, the people who are hit the hardest by industrial action are the loyal customers.

A strike for BA, as shown at the Royal Mail would have a negative impact on finances and customer loyalty, and hit the company where it hurts. Is it not better to stick to the negotiations and find a common stance for both parties?

Employees should most definitely be allowed to voice their concerns and expect them to be auctioned, however I’m not sure striking is the way to do it.

Poor show from the BNP

I have just finished watching Question Time, which of course featured the BNP leader, Nick Griffin. I concluded earlier that the BNP should be allowed to air their views on the show because it will show them for the racist party they are – and it has!

Apart from the fact that Nick Griffin looked like a startled turkey in the run up to Christmas, with an ability to look at truth in the face and flee as quickly as possible – he gave no reasoning of any significance to the British public on why they should vote for him and his party.

Sooner or later people will not need to protest against the BNP’s presence, because the British public will dismiss the party and Mr Griffin to the fringes of politics.

Should 'Nasty Nick' be allowed on Question Time?

Tonight leader of the BNP will be appearing on Question Time – that is however if he can get past the hoards of people currently protesting outside the BBC TV Centre.

There has been much debate about whether a so called racist, fascist party should be allowed on the BBC and into ‘people’s living rooms’. Whether you agree with what the BNP stand for or not (and I most certainly don’t), the fact of the matter is, Nick Griffin is an elected member of the European Parliament.

In this year’s European elections, Nick Griffin received 943,598 votes for the North West England seat – now you cannot tell me that all of those people are racist fascists! The fact of the matter is Nick Griffin and his party are, in the eyes of Parliament, a legitimate political party and therefore have the right to be represented by the BBC, just like they did in the run up to the European elections with political broadcasting.

I hope Nick Griffin does get onto Question Time tonight because it is by listening to his hateful racist comments that people can see him and his party for what they really are!

Bravo to Andy Carter

I attended one of my university’s CIPR guest lectures last night where Head of Communications for Leeds City Council, Andy Carter (not to be confused with Cllr Andrew Carter) presented on moving his press office into a new virtual world.

I really enjoy these lectures because they give you the opportunity (as a young nosey PR student) to find out about the world of PR and Communications direct from the horse’s mouth.

Last night, and I’m sure I am not alone in this comment – Andy did a fantastic job. His presentation was slick, funny and oozing with juicy information.

This is an area I would like to get involved in and for me was a top notch presentation. Bravo!

The Sun turns blue...

So we hear today that the tabloid newspaper claiming to be ‘best for news’ (not my words) has deserted the Labour ship (sinking or not is up to you to decide) and sailed on over to the good ship Tory.

The Sun claims that ‘after 12 longs years in power, the Government has lost its way.’ Now whatever your view of Gordon Brown may be it is interesting to see that after a speech by the Prime Minister at the Labour Party Conference where a lot of what was said was aimed straight at The Sun readership, the paper no longer feel they can support him.

This entire episode just goes to show that Rupert Murdoch is always going to back a winner, whether he agrees with what they stand for or not. I don’t think Labour will be hit too hard by this and I don’t think the Tories will be singing sea shanties and swigging on rum just yet (I’m going back to the ship analogy).

I must admit there is a delicious irony in watching Labour ministers’ disgarding the newspaper that for so long was a close friend.

The Labour ship will no doubt be rocked by this decision, but it is still very much afloat.