StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Gate Gourmet Strike Action - Assignment Example

Cite this document
Summary
The author examines the strike action by British Airways employees which began as a result of the sacking of six hundred and seventy women of South Asian origin in 2005. The dispute had a tremendous impact on British Airways because the airline registered losses during the time of the strike. …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER96% of users find it useful
Gate Gourmet Strike Action
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Gate Gourmet Strike Action"

Gate Gourmet Strike Action By Location Gate Gourmet Strike Action Introduction The strike action by British Airways employees began as a result of the sacking of six hundred and seventy women of South Asian origin in 2005. The dispute had a tremendous impact on British Airways because the airline registered losses during the time of the strike as the airline workers downed their tools in solidarity with the sacked women. Ideally, the sacked women were old women and the arriving at the decision drew influence from the fact that this catering company had not made any profits from 2000. The women were immigrants that came to Britain as young brides or as young daughters to immigrant families making their job opportunities to be slim as they did not have adequate education. On the other hand, British Airways outsourced its in-flight catering to Gate Gourmet as a way of minimising operational costs through the provision of minimal wages and offering working contracts without pensions, holiday or sick leave pay. The result of this was that British Airways was able to register more profits for itself at the expense of the immigrant workers that worked for Gate Gourmet. The strike action began one morning after the Gate Gourmet women of Indian origin came from their tea break and found other workers that had replaced them because the new employees were willing to work for even lesser pay as compared to the former workers (Hickey 2005). As a result of this, the baggage handlers stormed out of their workstations in protest over the sacking of these women and the ill treatment that they had received from their employer. This led to the closure of the Heathrow Airport for at least forty eight hours in which the media took the opportunity to highlight the disgruntlement that customers had experienced during the time of the strike. Levels of customer support that a continuity manager can put in place in case the same situation arises in the future Short haul flights/ Long Haul flights Ideally, the job of a continuity manager is to ensure that an organisation returns to efficient capacity in service delivery as soon as possible while also making sure that a company’s customers are not affected much by the discontinuity. Essentially, strike action tends to be a confrontational crisis in which workers that have no job satisfaction use this as a venue for expressing themselves as provided for in the labour laws (Laws 2013, p. 93). The fist step is to ensure that passengers scheduled for short overhaul flights access food through their food vouchers, meaning that the strike should not ground them. The handling of this should be with a standby team that a continuity manager should ensure that an airline has in place in the vent that such a situation occurs in the future (BBC News 2005). Food provision will only be available through the food vouchers, meaning that there would not be any in-flight meals because of the go-slow witnessed by the caterers. HR/Operations Further, the offering of apologies to the passengers in the initial hours of the crisis can be essential because the airline cannot be performing at full capacity in which justifies the reason as to why there could be delays in the delivery of some services (Global travel Media 2013). This helps the passengers to understand that the situation is happening beyond an organisation’s control. As for this scenario, the Chief Executive of British Airways at that time Mr. Eddington Rod apologized for the disruption to their travel plans as a result of the cancellation of their flights, which was reassuring to the passengers (CNN.com 2005). The stand by team should also include baggage handlers in which the time that an airline cannot be operational could be enough to assemble a team that can handle the key areas as much as much as they may not be effective which can be between 24-48 hours after the confrontational crisis occurs.In essence, the most affected passengers would be the passengers boarding long overhaul flights as they would not be able to access hot food or the cutlery essential in serving food on board the flight (UK Airport News 2006). The use of this would be a mitigation measure rather than allowing the airline to cancel the flights of the passengers that are already at the airport because this would be a greater loss to the airline. Further, offering a press release through one spokesman would also be essential for the airline as this makes passengers that have long haul flights to decide on whether to continue with their journey (Kenyon International 2014). The implication of this is that making the truth known to the public a couple of hours after a strike occurs can help an organisation to retain its image and reputation as part of its public relations strategy. Customer service Ideally, the customer service is the most significant area of connection between the airline and the passengers meaning that it should be able to convey information in real time to those affected by such a crisis. Those working in this area should convey information that is uniform and as directed by the spokesperson in charge of communication delivery as a way of avoiding the airline from finding itself in more problems with its customers. In this case, the customer desk should have been the first place in which customers could have received directions on how they could proceed further without experiencing more inconveniences for the services that they require from the airline. Operational contingencies that a continuity manager can put in place to minimise disruption to their operational capacity should that situation ever arise again The most critical aspect in crisis management is the level of preparedness in which an organisation has in terms of curbing the spread of losses within the same. In this case, the application of a contingency plan is the most relevant aspect in this process in that plan should be in place and that frequent rehearsals to ascertain the effectiveness of the plan is also key (Jones 2008, p. 391). Ideally, the application and rehearsal of contingency plans is a costly affair, but this cannot compare to level of losses that an organisation may incur when such threats occur. Departmental response The HR is one of the principle departments within an airline meaning that without this department the operations of organisation are most likely to grind to halt. For one, BA responded with the strike of both the Gate Gourmet and part of its staff by discussing the situation with their union leaders instead of addressing the challenge head on. As part of the settlement plan, the union leaders accepted that their members receive send off packs rather than them addressing the problem from the roots to avoid its reoccurrence in the future. Essentially, the HR department should ensure that it has a channel in which employees can channel their dissatisfaction as compared to resorting to mass action. Ideally, the HR department could have applied a different approach in laying off of the perceived old women rather than dismissing them unceremoniously, which some how influenced discomfort for the workers (Mitchell & Lee 2007). Therefore, the HR department should treat employees as assets and send them off after reaching an amicable settlement with them meaning that is likely to elicit lesser spotlight in future where the process may take more than forty eight hours after the strike action. Legal The legal department has the responsibility of ensuring that an organisation’s operations are within the law and that they are likely to attract as minimal lawsuits as possible. As for this case, the Indian women that Gate Gourmet had sacked could not seek any legal redress because the airline through their employer compensated them though not to the amount that they desired. Most of them lacked any professional qualifications that could have enabled them to seek employment placements elsewhere. As for the losses that BA incurred, the legal department should ensure that they set up legal channels that can safeguard them from such losses in which the supplier that enforces losses makes compensation for the damage suffered. Customer service Essentially, the customer service desk or point serves as the principle area in which customers can access relevant information concerning their flights or the reasons as to why an airline is experiencing delays. In this case, it is pertinent for this desk to be operational at all times as this can be the only point for the airline that can ensure that the customers do not feel left out in case of a mishap. This station seeks to assure passengers and all those affected by a confrontational crisis that everything is under control and the airlines management could be working to ensure that there is normalcy at the airport in terms of security and operations. In most cases, the customer service desk can be one of the areas in which a drill to gauge its level of preparedness for handling such a crisis can be and helping to make improvements to make the department better in future. Bibliography BBC News 2005, BA strike chaos starting to ease. Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4147780.stm [29 April 2014] Betz, CT 2007, Architecture and patterns for IT service management, resource planning, and governance making shoes for the cobblers children, Amsterdam, Elsevier/Morgan Kaufmann. CNN.com 2005, British Airways cancels all Heathrow flights, CNN International. Available from: http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/08/11/ba.strike/ [29 April 2014] Global travel Media 2013, Flight delays and cancellations Air Passenger rights for Australian domestic flights, Available from: http://www.eglobaltravelmedia.com.au/flight-delays-and-cancellations-air-passenger-rights-for-australian-domestic-flights/ [29 April 2014] Hickey, C 2005, Gate Gourmet: fighting dog-eat-dog capitalism, Workers Liberty.org. Available from: http://www.workersliberty.org/node/4722 [29 April 2014] Jones, P 2008, Handbook of Hospitality Operations and IT, London, Routledge. Kenyon International Emergency Services 2014, Crisis and Management and Response Training Programs, Available from: http://www.kenyoninternational.com/emergency_mgmt_training.html#.U1_zepiGu1s [29 April 2014] Laws, E 2013, Tourism Crises: Management Responses and Theoretical Insight, London, Routledge. Lee, K & Mitchell, P 2005, Britain: Employment tribunal rules Gate Gourmet strike illegal, World Socialist Site. Available from: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2007/01/gate-j08.html [29 April 2014] UK Airport News 2006, BA makes plans to avoid repeat of Gate Gourmet crisis, Heathrow Airport News. Available from: http://www.uk-airport-news.info/heathrow-airport-news-040306f.htm [29 April 2014] Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“At the time of the Gate Gourmet strike British Airways lost the input Essay”, n.d.)
At the time of the Gate Gourmet strike British Airways lost the input Essay. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/business/1642817-at-the-time-of-the-gate-gourmet-strike-british-airways-lost-the-input-of-an-essential-key-supplier-with-huge-consequences-for-the-firm
(At the Time of the Gate Gourmet Strike British Airways Lost the Input Essay)
At the Time of the Gate Gourmet Strike British Airways Lost the Input Essay. https://studentshare.org/business/1642817-at-the-time-of-the-gate-gourmet-strike-british-airways-lost-the-input-of-an-essential-key-supplier-with-huge-consequences-for-the-firm.
“At the Time of the Gate Gourmet Strike British Airways Lost the Input Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/business/1642817-at-the-time-of-the-gate-gourmet-strike-british-airways-lost-the-input-of-an-essential-key-supplier-with-huge-consequences-for-the-firm.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Gate Gourmet Strike Action

The Economic Factors That Affect Gourmet Express

gourmet Express Name Institution Date Introduction A business idea is a concept which can be implemented and used for commercial purposes, it's based on a service or a commodity which can be sold and make money.... hellip; This paper discusses the business idea of gourmet Express.... Grocery market is a competitive market because there are other companies offering services to clients that gourmet targets (Brough, 2005).... The economic factors that will affect gourmet express are; Economic development and growth....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Thirty Years Since Grunwick Strike

Here it is also important to talk about the trade union leadership which was basically giving vocal support to their members but they were not prepared properly in order to provide support to their members until the bitter end came off the strike, which made the strikers stop and accept the court action against them.... The essay "Thirty Years Since Grunwick strike" states that there are basically two events which are important in history as far as the strategies are the concern of the State through the black community and the black section which is the part of the working class....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Sustainable Growth and Performance in IT Companies

Over the last few years, companies and organizations have been working towards creating a new dynamic within their businesses called disruptive growth (Christensen and Raynor 177).... In the book The Innovator's Solution, the disruptive process is “to commercialize a simple,… re convenient product that sells for less money and appeals to new or unattractive customer set…this phenomenon…frequently defeats successful companies....
11 Pages (2750 words) Essay

The Key Providers In Travel And Tourism Industry

This essay "The Key Providers In Travel And Tourism Industry" discusses the relation between certain branches of the tourism industry and describes in which way they cooperate, for instance, airlines and tour operators or airlines and travel agents.... hellip; According to a recent IATA bulletin, today's travel & tourism and aviation industries are among the world's largest, currently employing more than 200 million people and grossing more than U....
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay

The Essential Tools and Techniques Used By Organizations to Manage the Human Resources

This paper "The Essential Tools and Techniques Used By Organizations to Manage the Human Resources" focuses on the companies and organizations are made for people and by the people, and obviously, their effectiveness depends on the behaviour and performance of the people running these companies.... nbsp;  … It is therefore quite logical to say that Human Resource Management is a very crucial and an integral part of any organization....
10 Pages (2500 words) Essay

Lightning Strikes and Paramedic Care

The best line of action to rescue a victim of lightning strikes is to provide artificial resuscitation as soon as possible.... The victim of a lightning strike may be suffering from cardiac contusion, myocardial infarction, stroke, arrhythmia among other problems (McIntyre, Simpson, and Redfearn).... atient Treatment by ParamedicsIn case of a lightning strike, the paramedic should take to resuscitation as soon as possible since most lightning strikes patients develop respiratory problems....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Character Development in Last Holiday

The current review "Character Development in Last Holiday" will explore how Georgia Byrd, played by Queen Latifah, in the film "Last Holiday", exhibits many of the developmental traits that are discussed in Erik Erikson's “Psychosocial Development Theory”....  … Erikson's theory contains eight distinct stages of human development and most of these stages are shown by Georgia over the course of this film....
7 Pages (1750 words) Movie Review

A Distinctive Look at Unionism and Strike Action

This essay "A Distinctive Look at Unionism and strike action" illustrates the above argument by analyzing the effects of the strike action on employment relations in the 1978 film Blue Collar.... This essay illustrates the above argument by analyzing the effects of the strike action on employment relations in the 1978 film Blue Collar.... Nevertheless, as further argued by Jeremy Brecher (1997), labor movement, such as mass strike, situate workers as historical actors and change their roles and relationships with one another and with their employer/s....
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us