2011 - My Predictions for the Year Ahead

So here goes, My predictions of the Headlines we will see over 2011.

Unions make reasonable Demands to avoid strike – Only joking of cause they won’t.

Sarah Palin seeks Republican Presidency Support
We should get a better idea of who will face Obama in 2012, Front runners at the moment seem to be the news papers favourite Sarah Palin and Mitch Daniels who is primarily an economist and will appeal to large areas of Republican Support (Daniels was the Budget Director for George W Bush which may work for or against him its hard to tell at the moment.) either way this time next year we should have a much better idea who it will be that starts the race for the Whitehouse. Although I am predicting that in the End Celebrity will beat competence.

Two Tier Euro Zone
After a very troubled couple of years it will be put up or shut up time for the Euro, in 2011 Germany and France will have three choices; first is to give the struggling Eurozone members all of the money they need to survive and therefore practically tie all of the Eurozone countries together in a truly single financial unit; second choice is to abandon the project and all go their separate ways after much cost and a great deal of embarrassment or Third (And what I consider the most likely) To create a 2 tier Euro with Germany, France and the Benelux states having the Euro with the Med Countries and Eastern Europe switching to a separately managed single currency.

Wide Spread Flight Disruption
Two sources for this one, The BA strikes will be returning next year as Unite once again seem to think that with BA leaking cash through every orifice that they should continue to be overstaffed and over paid. The main source of disruption I am talking about however is another Ash Cloud, during the last Ash cloud incident (I don’t feel it really deserves to be called a crisis) it was pointed out that the much bigger Katla Volcano was over due for eruption and I am predicting 2011 to be the year.

North and South Korea on the brink of war
I very much doubt that hostilities between the two Korean Republics will restart however with Kim Jung-Un taking over from his father as dictator of the Worlds least stable nuclear power I am predicting a fair amount of attention to be on the Korean peninsular and as China takes it’s place as the second superpower I imagine that they will want to limit the damage to their blossoming economic superiority which may well see China and America leading the world in a beneficial closer working relationship.

Widespread Protests (Of a minority)
I think we will get a great deal of noise from a very vocal minority of Union bosses and left leaning individuals still convinced that the country should not be trying to balance it’s budget, Whilst these deluded individuals talk about these great disruptions however I also predict that the rest of us will simply get up and come to work (despite their efforts to stop us.) and whilst Labour and the Unions bleat on about how unfair it is that those who are receiving state money are receiving slightly less for a while the rest of us just get on with paying for it.

Bob Crow Vs. London

Yesterday saw the second of the one day strikes by the RMT and another less known union - probably as they lack the marmite style leadership of Mr Crow - now as I work out in Bexleyheath this really should have had little or no effect on me, however this strike coincided with my companies annual management conference so I was forced to make my way into London.

There was plenty of debate over if the public supported strike action or the law should be tougher to stop it happening, personally I fully believe in the right of people to withdraw their labour, but I do fear that with an apparent desire for strike for strikes sake as demonstrated by Mr Crow and others (Unite for example) the public will start to support making it harder to down tools, and possibly make it illegal altogether. As I say I think that strike action very much has a place in a unions Arsenal, but if it is not used more sensibly I can see it being removed. For example, when the general public are desperate to keep hold of their jobs they will struggle to understand why BA need more air stewards than their competition (in fact more from Heathrow than Gatwick.) And like wise as you are struggling to get to work, or a job interview, it is hard to have empathy with guys being asked to work outside their ticket office, after they have been assured that there will be no redundancy.

So I would pass on a piece of advice to all Unions - pick your battles, you are out of touch with public opinion and in danger of losing everything.

Does the involvement of Unite weaken a protest

I heard today about a protest at Billingsgate Market, there were concerns over licenses and the workers were worried that it could be the end of the famous fish market.

I have been to this market a few times and it really is a great experience, I was concerned therefore when I heard about this, until I heard that it was our old friends Unite who were organising it. I am sure there is a chance that Unite have had legitimate protests in the past, but ever since the BA insanity, I have really struggled to take them seriously.

BA Vs. Unite - The Stupidity Continues

News is just starting to come through that Union Unite are to take British Airways to court over the ongoing dispute, particularly the withdrawing of travel privileges of strikers last year. Now I am not against Unite trying to get back the privileges to their members, this is after all what Unions are for. What made me shake my head in disbelief on this one was that they are taking them to court on grounds of Human Rights - I am guessing the Right to subsidised travel was somewhere hidden into the declaration of Human Rights where I wasn't reading.

Freedom from Persecution, Torture, Detention Without Trial and Free Flights to Spain!!

It seems to me that if the Staff of BA go into work and actually complete the work they are paid for, whilst they thank their lucky stars that even after the cost saving measures were implemented they will still have better than industry standard conditions, Then the management are bound to give it back. But first you have to let go of the righteous indignation that characterises the Unite members.

Unite Stalled Again

In Just under an hours time the court of appeal will hear from Unite in their quest to overturn a ruling given yesterday preventing them from striking.

As Unite are quite a large Union you would think that they could get a matter like balloting their members on strike action - especially when you think about how much they love their strike action. Yet for the second time in this dispute they have been stopped from striking by the law. The first time (Back at Christmas) I think it was more serious, I seem to remember that it was to do with Balloting people no longer employed. This time it seems that they simply did not do enough to advertise the result - Again you would assume there was a plan established for this.

Personally I think this is quite possibly the most stupid of all the strikes I have heard - Unbelievable with Bob Crow being General Secretary of the RMT. but they went on strike because they didn't want to operate from Heathrow with the same amount of staff as operated from Gatwick, they were told if they went on strike they would lose their travel perks, they went on strike, they lost their perks and now they want them back. Welcome to the real world, I have as one of my targets that I have to have a "Company Attitude" if I am publicly not supporting my company I will not receive my bonus, luckily my company are really great so not an issue, This is not victimisation it is simply my Bonus is not a part of my wages it is additional.

They are also having trouble with more than 50 staff members who have been disciplined over their roles in the strikes, Unite want them to face no discipline as you can not get disciplined for taking strike action - However from what I have heard from within BA some of these people have been alleged to have intimidated people not going on strike. Surely if the right to strike is as Tony Woodley (Unite's Joint Leader) says a Fundamental Human Right, surely so is the right to go to work free from intimidation... or are Human rights only for Fee Paying members.