Gate Gourmet Strike Action - Assignment Example

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