guardian.co.uk
leaked documentUnion insiders say report amounted to blueprint for hardline approach to industrial relations


BA has consistently denied Unite allegations that it has targeted staff, including senior Bassa representatives.


British Airways commissioned an adviser who told it to "force the issue" with the cabin crew union that is leading strike action against the company by "hitting the leadership ... where it hurts", papers leaked to the Guardian reveal.

The report, paid for by the airline, encouraged BA to prepare for a showdown with the Unite union's flight attendant branch, Bassa, about three years ago.

The company last night distanced itself from the advice, issued by an academic consultant, but union insiders said it amounted to a blueprint for the company's hardline approach to industrial relations. "It confirms everything that we have argued all along – that this company has a secret union-busting agenda which in the final analysis is the reason why so many passengers are suffering the inconveniences of this dispute," said one official.

The revelation comes amid mounting criticism of BA for its stance in the cabin crew dispute that enters a new four-day strike on Saturday.

The paper, by Frank Burchill, a visiting professor at Strathclyde University, is titled: "A review of where BA are in the relationship with Bassa" and offers a comprehensive guide to undermining the union's current leadership.

The advice includes recommendations to the airline on:

• Taking an "anti-Bassa" approach.

• Recognising "there is no prospect of ... partnership" under the union's current leadership.

• Tackling union leaders "where it hurts" by curtailing time off for union duties.

• Seeking help from Bassa's parent union, then the Transport and General Workers' Union, in a "divide and rule" approach.

The document states: "The management team should agree and express a determination to force the issue with Bassa. Some consideration should be given to hitting the leadership of Bassa where it hurts. Ground rules for paid time off for trade union duties is an area which needs to be very closely examined."

Last week Tony Woodley, the joint general secretary of Bassa's new parent union, Unite, accused BA of "wanting to go to war" with the union after the airline's chief executive, Willie Walsh, threatened to scrap an agreement regulating how much time shop stewards spend on union work. The document states that, because Bassa stewards earn money from their union work, curtailing their union duties could hit their earnings.

This week, in a letter to the Guardian, more than 100 academics claimed that BA is attempting to break Bassa's grip on the carrier by drawing out the dispute. BA denies the accusations in a replying letter to the Guardian today in which its director of government affairs, Maria da Cunha, states: "Your leading industrial relations academics can rest easy. We have no intention of breaking Unite." Burchill's paper states that BA recognises the need for trade union representation, but that is impossible under the current Bassa leadership. "In the short run there is an anti-Bassa approach required given that with its present structure and leadership there is no prospect of moving towards the endgame let alone partnership. In terms of strategy what is needed is a forcing approach towards Bassa."

BA said last night that the Burchill document "does not express the view of British Airways or any individual employee from the airline". It added the document was just one of many commissioned by the carrier.

"The company did not take on the observations detailed in the printed extract from the third party consultant, as the intention all along has been to create improved working relations with our senior cabin crew union representatives.

"He had several private meetings with Bassa and T&G representatives as part of his research, with no company representatives present. Far from breaking the union, the objective of the research was about finding new, mutually beneficial ways of working together. The document suggested ways in which the union and the airline could further improve their relationship."

BA has consistently denied Unite allegations that it has targeted staff, including senior Bassa representatives. However, seven members of the Bassa committee, all BA employees, are now on disciplinary charges or are being investigated following a complaint by a shop steward, from a different Unite branch, who has since left the company.




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