The Telegraph reports:
Police were called to the Acas building in London after around 60 demonstrators from the Trotskyite Socialist Workers Party broke in.
BA and Unite said they were angry at the protest which came at a time when they said they were “making progress” in the negotiations aimed at averting 15 days of strikes by cabin crew due to begin on Monday.
Mr Walsh said he was “disgusted” by the demonstration and Tony Woodley, the Unite general secretary, described the protesters as “idiots”.
In chaotic scenes, The protesters broke into the building through a side door just before 5.30pm.
The demonstrators, chanting and banging doors, made their way to a “secure” area on the 23rd floor where they surrounded Mr Walsh.
The negotiations, were called off as officers arrived to escort Mr Walsh to safety and to move the protesters out of the building. The talks are expected to resume today at a secret location.
A spokesman for BA said: “The protest was appalling, totally unnecessary.
“It has disrupted the talks which were making progress, and has done nothing to help us make sure that BA passengers will be able to fly next week,” he said.
Mr Woodley said: “I am very angry about this. Those people are idiots. We were making progress and they have ruined it. We have wasted an afternoon and an evening.
“The talks have not broken down they have been broken up by a bunch of idiots.”
So it isn’t just BA that is angry about this bit of foolishness; it’s the union too– a union which is more concerned with getting a fair deal for BA workers, and avoiding a strike if possible, than the deluded vanguardists of the SWP.
Can you imagine even one BA worker– prepared to strike as a last resort but worried about the loss of income that a walkout would cause– looking at what the SWP did (supposedly on their behalf) and saying “Thank you, comrades”? If anything they will be saying things far harsher than what their union leader said.
(Hat tip: Monty)
Update:
BBC reporter: Do I rightly understand that the talks have now broken down, or they’ve stopped, because you guys have interrupted the meeting?
Clueless SWP idiot: I should hope so.
(Hat tip: habibi)
