I absolutely completely 100% disagree, it has everything to do with it in my mind. The reason being airlines are businesses the same as any other and anyone who believes otherwise is living in a dream world. Airlines are affected by the same basic problems everyone from car washes to garden centres face. If you have a job at one company and someone else gets paid less to do essentially the same job elsewhere then you’re lucky to be where you are and you should damned well remember that.

Ok, so to apply this to my job then…ground handling. The company I work for is in fact one of the more expensive ground handling companies to use at LHR…but that is because we are passionate about the service that we provide and we all believe that the price for this level of service is worth paying for. Naturally we have lost some contracts to our competitors, but that is simply because they have chosen to under-cut us so substantially that they are in fact operating at a loss far more than what we are…and I am sure if you asked the airlines themselves, the level of service that they have recieved has probably be worse as well, because the workers do not get paid as much as us.

So yes, there are other ground handling companies out there that do pay less for what is essentially the same job as myself…and yes, I should perhaps consider myself to be lucky (I do!;)), but if a similar situation was to occur at my workplace as to what is happening at BA at the moment, there would almost certainly be a strike becuase we as workers are not prepared to be told to work for less and yet be expected to deliver the same standard of service that is currently being asked of us…how is that in anyway fair on us?!

Ok Bmused55, let the CEO sack 43% of the workforce, seeing as he would have to get rid of them all at the same time…then lets see where that gets him and his company!

And Paul, just to be clear…the crew are not venting their frustrations at the travelling public at all, they are venting them solely at BA management, its just unfortunately that being in the “service” industry, the travelling public are the uneccesary victims of all of this…so don’t be quite so ridiculous!

Would you prefer to live in a country where strikes and unions are illegal – like China, perhaps?

It would appear though that quite a few people above would be prepared to do just that, seeing as they would obviously be prepared to accept whatever their employer says/does to them, regardless of the impact/s it might have on their living standards, thus making them slaves in effect!

I feel a jail term is probably a bit extreme in a situation like this, however I do agree that arrest, prosecution and a substantial fine for the theft of the item and the interfering with safety equipment of an aeroplane charge should be automatic as this will result in a person ending up with a criminal record (unless they already have one for any previous offences!;)), which will not look good if/when said person is applying for any new position/job in the future.