Frustrations ahead for those flying in

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/nov/25/border-agency-passport-checks

Sounds like a near disaster. Happy to not be flying very soon!

Reading the Guardian now?

*cry* I land on Friday...

According to this article, BA and Virgin are offering to let people change their flights if they're flying on the 30th.

http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/25/9013847-strike-threatens-gridlock-at-uks-heathrow-airport

As an American not used to these sorts of things, I truly don't understand how the government could allow these people to go on strike. We are talking about national security issues, not even mentioning the economic impact on a nation pretty much still in a recession. How many people will simply cancel their flights, full stop?

All I can do is compare to the US, and I don't think IO's would ever be able to strike there.

Is this expected to affect all airports? It looks like the 30th is the only planned day so far? We are leaving on the 6th from Manchester and sincerely hope this doesn't destroy our planning!

As an American not used to these sorts of things, I truly don't understand how the government could allow these people to go on strike.

{snip}

All I can do is compare to the US, and I don't think IO's would ever be able to strike there.

Why not? If the US government made some sort of change to the pension plans of Customs & Border Patrol officers that they were exceptionally unhappy with, what would prevent them from striking?

She might be thinking of air traffic controllers who, I believe, are not allowed to strike. Right now, I believe the police in the UK cannot strike, but the UKBA appears to fall under a more "civil servant" sort of umbrella.
I think it's important that people have the right to strike, and I think that the chaos and annoyance that it causes is exactly what the UKBA are going for.
The right to strike actually varies by state in the US (friends of mine in Florida could not, as public teachers, strike--I walked a few picket lines as a teacher in California), and there is a long history of labor activity/strike action in the US--just not recently. It gets tricky with "at will" employment laws and the like.

She might be thinking of air traffic controllers who, I believe, are not allowed to strike. Right now, I believe the police in the UK cannot strike, but the UKBA appears to fall under a more "civil servant" sort of umbrella.
I think it's important that people have the right to strike, and I think that the chaos and annoyance that it causes is exactly what the UKBA are going for.
The right to strike actually varies by state in the US (friends of mine in Florida could not, as public teachers, strike--I walked a few picket lines as a teacher in California), and there is a long history of labor activity/strike action in the US--just not recently. It gets tricky with "at will" employment laws and the like.

I think this summed it up perfectly. People tend to have strong views about whether people should strike or not, but the bottom line is there are some jobs that are illegal to strike and at this time that is not true for UKBA- if the government wants to go through the process to make it illegal that is up to them. In the meantime they have the right to strike.