Reputation Management Online

At first it seemed like a straight forward industrial action. Now newspapers are suggesting that a power struggle with Unite union is a key ingredient along with a seeming total breakdown in relations between cabin staff and British Airways.

You can sense a massive behind the scenes PR programme from both sides as they attempt to salvage their reputations in the face of total consumer disgust at the strike. For all participants this is a high stakes strategy with a lot of questions.

1. Did the BA management  think they could bluff thinking that staff would never strike over christmas period.
2. Does Unite’s McCluskey think he can prove his credentials and force a climb-down from BA?
3. What attitude will investors take? This last question is critical. Many investors will take the view that the management need to break the cabin crews once and for all and the price is worth it if BA can achieve a lower and more flexible cost base.
4. What is the long term cost to BA’s reputation? Xmas is the worst time to ruin people’s holidays.

The Stakes for Unite

Unite are trying to suggest that management are incompetent and wanting to run a Ryanair (the world’s most profitable airline, by the way) whilst management are countering with the assertion that crews are massively overpaid for what they do and the value they add.

Watching Twitter it is clear that BA is winning the reputation battle as customers beg staff not to strike.  For Unite’s leadership they are charting a course that is perilous in the extreme.

For Unite, the existence of other planned strikes at Heathrow by baggage workers make this period a PR nightmare. There is a strong strong whiff of union activism which for struggling consumers, many of whom are facing job threats, is distinctly out of step with the times.

Stakes for BA

BA are facing a customer melt-down of epic proportions if the strike goes ahead. But equally problematically, investors want to see who is running the airline – management or cabin crews. Walsh feels he must impose changes and most investors agree. If management lose or even blink, expect the shares to go south, fast. Investors see this like the Miners strike in the 1980s. A defining moment in BA’s history.

Stakes for the Government:

This is a lose-lose situation for this government. They cannot support either side without alienating one community and yet platitudes just make them look weak.   The sense that UK Inc is broken continues.

Related posts:

1. British Airways – Legal action to save reputation! The 12-day strike called by Unite union looms large this...
2. Buying a company, how’s it’s reputation Recently we’ve been contacted by people asking about how much...
3. U.S. Airways don’t forget how easy bad service gets around the net It’s funny how the simplest lack of customers service or...