High flying pilots who are grounding the less well off
IT’S a funny old world when workers receiving a pay packet of over £150,000 go on strike for more money. On top of that, having been offered an inflation-busting pay rise of 11.5 per cent over three years, British Airways (BA) pilots say that is still not enough.
In the meantime, most people earning much less than that are having their holidays ruined or cancelled because of rich people wanting even more money.
Highly-trained people deserve a decent sum of money to reflect their expertise. And when I hit turbulence at 35,000 feet I want the reassuring voice of an experienced captain to calm me down – along with a large glass of wine. But the basic salary of long-haul captains is already £167,000 and isn’t much of it done on autopilot these days? Most accidents are caused by pilot error not plane error.
Instead, on top of being wellpaid, BA pilots now want a slice of the profits and want a revamp of BA so it’s classier and doesn’t chase their no-frills competitors. Fair enough. But such negotiations shouldn’t be made off the misery of travellers who’ve probably saved up all year to go on their muchvalued holidays. At least 1,700 flights have been cancelled this week, affecting tens of thousands of passengers. That’s a lot of wasted money and time to inflict on ordinary people in order to swell a few privileged people’s bank accounts.
BA already has a shaky reputation and indulgent strikes by already wealthy pilots do not exactly endear the brand to us all. This, in turn, will cut the profits they want to share.
BA is a flag-bearer for the nation and should guard its worldwide reputation.
It should not damage it with cancelled flights for international travellers because of wealth management issues.
It is reminiscent of the daily
suffering caused to commuters by striking London Underground drivers. They earn more than £60,000 a year to drive through tunnels, with some of them getting up to £100,000.
It seems it’s no longer about getting a fair wage for a day’s work but as much money as your union can screw out of your employer by threatening the general public.
Of course that’s what union leaders are paid to do. They are certainly paid a lot of money to do that as well. A recent report by the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) found at least 30 trade union leaders are on an average income of £144,000.
Arguing the case for the BA strikers, the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) General Secretary Brian Strutton saw his pay and perks rise more than £5,000 this year to £146,606.
The General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) – behind many recent walkouts affecting thousands of commuters – is on £154,000.
Frances O’Grady, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, receives £168,000, putting her in the top three per cent of earners, while the General Secretary of the British Medical Association gets a total remuneration package of £193,000. That’s seven times what a junior doctor receives.
Curiously, as their pay goes up, union membership is actually going down with public sector membership at its lowest since records began, just 11 per cent of the workforce.
Many trade union rich listers are actively campaigning for a Marxist Jeremy Corbyn government, which they hope will give them the opportunity to call even more strikes at the public expense. While others will be impoverished by a hard-left regime, they’re happy to carry on pocketing generous pay packets. As a TPA spokesman rightly put it: “Taxpayers are tired of these red barons, taking home massive taxpayer-backed salaries while playing class warriors against prosperity.”
THE Labour Party and their trade union backers first emerged as a necessary counterbalance to the excessive exploitation of workers by ruthless employers. But that heroic mission has long since been replaced by ideologically driven middle-class politicians and greedy trade unionists who are a world away from their original working class supporters.
We live in an age when workers earning a hundred thousand plus, probably living in million pound houses, are striking for yet more money. Meanwhile, more humble employees just getting by on far smaller salaries are picking up the cost of their selfish action by losing precious holidays or enduring endless delays as they struggle to get to work.
Next it’ll be bankers going on strike because their bonuses aren’t big enough.
‘Negotiations should not be made off the growing misery of travellers’