Hundreds of striking BA cabin crew and their supporters were in high spirits at dispute HQ – just across the road from London’s massive Heathrow airport.
Scores of pickets were on duty from 6am and persistent rain failed to dampen the resolve of the Unite union members who are fighting to save jobs and their hard won terms and conditions.
Rows of BA planes parked up inside the airport were a clear indicator that the stoppage was biting.

Solidarity

The strikers – who have been under attack from politicians and the bosses’ media – were pleasantly surprised by the level of support.
Other airport workers joined the picket and passing bus and lorry drivers tooted their horns in support of the pickets.
Local fire fighters offered shelter to strikers, and BA workers not involved in the dispute sneaked out hot drinks to their picketing colleagues.
Supporters from other Unite branches, sister unions and socialist and environmental campaigns swelled the numbers for a rally which was addressed by local Labour MP John McDonnell and Unite general secretary candidate Len McCluskey.
Jerry Hicks, who also plans to contest the union leadership election, was at the rally.
The anger of the crowd was focused on BA boss Willie Walsh who earns £750,000 a year, plus bonuses, but is out to cut the pay and conditions of low paid airline workers.
“Willie! Willie! Willie! Out! Out! Out!” was the chant of choice.
The cabin crew are on strike tomorrow (Sunday) and Monday. They are out again next weekend.

Support

The strikers were clearly buoyed up by the support of other trades unionists. You can text messages straight to the picket line on 07850 905787.
Visit the strike HQ at Bedfont F.C., The Orchard, Hatton Road, Bedfont, Middlesex, TW14 8QT. There’s free tea and cake, a bar, and a big screen to watch the news from elsewhere.
Send the strikers support, or ask for a speaker, at office@bassa.co.uk

Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, will lead the debate on the subject brought again into focus following the BBC’s decision to invite BNP leader Nick Griffin onto Question Time.

The NUJ Left conference will debate our response to the far right and our industrial tactics

Lindsey German, convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, will also speak at the event in central London on Saturday 17 October, leading a session on media coverage of the war in Afghanistan.

The debates will be timely given Griffin is booked to appear just five days after we meet and StW is due to hold a national demonstration over Afghanistan the following Saturday.

The morning session of the conference will be devoted to a debate over industrial strategy and tactics, led by a panel of NUJ activists involved in recent disputes.

This will lead into a discussion on building NUJ Left through solidarity networks across workplaces and branches.

We will also be debating issues around the NUJ national executive council’s proposals about the frequency of delegates’ meetings.

NUJ Left convenor Alan Gibson said: “The NUJ faces massive challenges in which the left in the union can play an enormous role – but only if we not only gather our forces, but go all out to widen and strengthen them.”

The conference will be at St Aloysius social club, 20 Phoenix Road, London (five minutes from Euston Station), between 11am and 4.30pm.

For information email nuj.left@googlemail.com

Photo: Jonathan Warren

NUJ vice president Pete Murray says the Labour party has “lost its will to fight” and only united action from the unions and others can defend jobs and defeat the far right.

Speaking on behalf of the NUJ at the Jobs, Education, Peace rally in Brighton on Sunday, Pete contrasted the protesters out on the streets in the sunshine with those shut up inside the Labour party conference centre opposite.

To loud cheers, he said we were the ones making basic labour demands, with “an agenda for working class people”.

“There are some very simple and stark differences between us and them,” Pete added. “They are planning to cut jobs; we are talking about how to save them.

“They are talking about how to win the war in Afghanistan; we are saying stop the war. They are talking about debating with the BNP; we say destroy the BNP.”

He said the only war worth fighting is the war against poverty – and workers like those who took action at Visteon, Vestas and Prisme, and the student occupiers, have the ideas about how to win it.

“The NUJ is proud to be here joining those who are willing to fight, to challenge this whirlpool of despondency,” Pete said. “We’re the optimists - Labour has lost its will to fight.

“It spends more on buying bullets than building homes. More on bankers’ bonuses than unemployed workers. And it cares more about profit than justice.”

Pointing towards the conference centre, he added: “If they feel guilty being in there, they should come out here and find their hearts again and fight for a society based on peace not profit, need not greed.”

The rally was called by lecturers and teachers union UCU and organised with the the NUJ, NUT, PCS, RMT, the CWU, and the anti-war movement.

UCU Tower Hamlets college branch secretary Richard McEwan thanked fellow trade unionists for the support and solidarity they received during their four-week strike, which had ended in victory just days before. He said they had raised more than £20,000 for their hardship fund.

Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell both spoke out against the current government’s policies, including plans to slash public spending.

John said: “The lesson from Vestas, Visteon and Tower Hamlets is that we can win if we fight back.”

Activists met this evening to begin planning the NUJ’s involvement in what we hope will be a massive showing of union solidarity at the Labour party conference on 27 September.

So far four unions – NUJ, NUT, UCU and PCS – have come together nationally with the mass anti-war movement to organise a joint protest at the conference in Brighton.

To help build support for the event we hope to hold a Stand up for Journalism public meeting in London in mid-September. Further details will be published when available.

We need to ensure as many members as possible are involved in building for the protest and chapels and branches will be asked to discuss what they can do, and what support they can offer.

While we are working towards a big turnout at the protest, more importantly the event provides a focus to help us co-ordinate our fightback against the cuts in all sectors of our industry and the attacks on quality journalism and press freedom.

Recent militant actions across the country – including at Visteon, Lindsey and, more recently, Vestas on the Isle of Wight and Thomas Cook in Dublin – show what can be achieved when workers take the initiative.

Like everyone, NUJ members will be watching these disputes and it is our task as activists to use these opportunities to talk about how we can fight the employers who are using the recession as an excuse to execute devastating cuts.

We are keen to learn lessons from those who have taken part in occupations and other forms of action, and hope to build more of these links as this campaign progresses.

We need a united strategy, not just within the NUJ but beyond, drawing in other unions, campaigners and supporters.

We are living through the worst economic crisis for 60 years. No one has any idea how it will pan out or when it will end.

Unemployment is soaring. Yet where are the unions? We should be battering on the doors of parliament.

Like never before we need strong unions that can connect individual, isolated struggles into a powerful national movement.

Millions understand that it is a crime to throw billions at propping up the banks. The G20 protesters at the Bank of England had the right idea – the unions have the muscle to deliver their vision.

This week Vestas has been humbled on the Isle of Wight by an occupation backed by hundreds of trade unionists and climate activists. Unofficial action has recently won stunning victories at Lindsey and Visteon.

These developments have the potential to transform the political situation in this country.

For this reason four unions – NUJ, NUT, UCU and PCS – have come together nationally with the mass anti-war movement to call a joint protest at Labour’s conference in Brighton on 27 September.

The government is weak and desperate to save its skin. A large and radical protest in Brighton can pile the pressure on Labour to change track. The day before the protest the Convention of the Left will rally left activists and continue the urgent work of building unity.

Last Friday representatives of all four unions met at the UCU to hammer out some details. But the initiative from Headland House won’t build a demo on its own – it needs to be backed up with grassroots activism.

Time is short, so there will be a first stab at creating an NUJ organising committee from 7pm on Tuesday 4 August at NUJ headquarters, 308-312 Gray’s Inn Road, London. Nearest station is King’s Cross.

Congratulations to the chapel members who mounted a solid, united resistance to these proposals, voting massively in favour of a strike.

Our members in the midlands will take strength from this and it will give confidence to other Trinity chapels currently balloting for industrial action.

Update, 29 July: Congratulations also to the Coventry Newspapers chapel that announced today it has agreed to call off its planned action for next week after saving three jobs under threat.

There are still talks over the future of a photographer and a reporter but signs are hopeful that a deal will be reached and no one will be made redundant against their will. These are important victories.

After a massive vote in favour, the members at the Birmingham Post and Mail, Coventry Telegraph, Sunday Mercury and Midlands Weekly Media titles plan to walk out on Thursday 30 July.

That is unless Trinity management agrees to sit down and talk seriously about how to save the nine titles facing the axe.

While members will be hoping for the best, they will also be planning to stage a bigger strike than was seen in Leeds earlier this year. There are around 150 NUJ members employed by Trinity in the midlands.

This action is likely to boost the confidence of other Trinity chapels in Newcastle and Middlesbrough currently balloting for industrial action over job cuts.

This dispute has been characterised by shameful actions on the part of management. It first accused the union of scaremongering for reporting on the company plans before they were revealed, even though the actual announcement outlined even more closures, and then underplayed the ballot result.

The company issued a statement that said only 45% of journalists voted for a strike. But that claim is as predictable as it is meaningless.

No ballot ever yields a 100% turnout and, given more people voted in their chapel meetings to hold the strike than had voted for action in the ballots, we might just as well tot up the uncast votes for ourselves and claim an even higher percentage ‘yes’ vote than the one we got.

But there was something else the company said in its statement that was similarly predictable, though this time not so meaningless. Describing the union, it said “this action will not benefit their members in any way whatsoever”.

Their members; as if “the union” was something beyond the journalists whose jobs and livelihoods are at stake here and elsewhere.

Trinity bosses must know this is not the case. This was a calculated move to try to distance its own employees from the decision, and it betrays disdain for union organisation and its workforce.

NUJ members, Trinity Mirror employees, have voted massively for a strike because they have lost faith in the ability of their managers to manage.

For the good of the Trinity workers’ jobs and the future of local journalism in the region, management need to use this next week to talk and listen.

If they don’t there will be a strike and if there is, it will be well supported. Not only in the midlands, but by every NUJ member across the country.

And it could light the touch paper for fireworks across the group.

Of those who voted, 84% opted to take industrial action and 97% for action short of a strike after the company announced plans to close nine titles and cut 17 journalists’ jobs in the region.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ deputy general secretary, pledged the union’s full support if members are forced to take action to defend their colleagues’ jobs.

Other Trinity members also considering their futures will hopefully take heart from this result and have more confidence that the battles they face are better fought together.

Solidarity to the Trinity journalists and practical support where its needed.

Members at the Evening Gazette are particularly angry that they are facing more cuts after jobs went six months ago, the NUJ reports.

Earlier this week members in Birmingham unanimously passed a motion of no confidence in the management of Trinity’s titles in the region.

With colleagues in Coventry they are also balloting for action over plans to close nine titles and cut 17 journalists’ jobs in the midlands.

The NUJ has also announced that 80 members at the TM-owned Chronicle and Journal group in Newcastle are to ballot over compulsory redundancies.

Clearly what Trinity does in one part of its company, it follows up in another. These are not simply local decisions, driven purely by local circumstances.

They are an orchestrated attack not only on the very livelihoods of our members, but also on the kind of journalism they are able to provide to their readers.

The union’s response should of course be equally determined. We need to support these chapels and help them to co-ordinate their fightback.

NUJ Left activists should give whatever practical support we can to these crucial disputes, and encourage other members facing cuts across the country to join the fightback and discuss locally, regionally and nationally how best to organise themselves to campaign and win.