Description
Ed Blissett (PhD) is Senior Lecturer in Employment Relations at the University of Hertfordshire. Prior to taking up this post Ed was, for over twenty years, a lay activist and then a senior Regional and National officer for three of Britain’s largest trade unions. His roles included six years as the Regional and National Officer for British Airways (BA) and then four years as Regional Secretary of the GMB London Region. These positions saw him play a central part in local and national union negotiations with BA, which granted him extensive first-hand knowledge of the 2003 strike and all the negotiations that preceded and followed the unofficial walkout. His background as a senior union officer at BA also assisted him in gaining unprecedented access to the unions’ lay reps, full-time officers and the airline’s managers, who played central roles in the 2003 strike and the ensuing negotiations. CONTENTS: Introduction and prcis of the dispute – The methodological approach – Different theoretical approaches to the study of strikes – The causes of the 18 July 2003 strike – The 18-19 July 2003 unofficial strike – The 21-30 July 2003 negotiations – The August 2003-November 2018 negotiations – Summary, findings and conclusions.
