So why did the Socialist Workers Party want to break up the BA talks?

[muriel_volestrangler]

The union seemed just as pissed off as ACAS or BA.

Leftwing protestors break up talks to prevent BA strike

Talks to avert a series of strikes by British Airways cabin crew ended in chaos last night as more than 100 leftwing demonstrators stormed the building where the talks were being held, forcing BA chief executive Willie Walsh to leave under police escort.

Officers were called to the headquarters of the conciliation service Acas after members of the Socialist Workers Party managed to get to the 23rd floor where leaders of the Unite union were conducting 11th-hour talks with BA's senior management. Union officials and Walsh were surrounded by the chanting demonstrators as Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite, told them to "shut up", but the protesters stayed in the building until they were thrown out by police.

Woodley later described the activists as "lunatics" and "idiots" who were not members of Unite. He had described the meeting earlier as an opportunity to avert 15 days of strikes that will cost the airline "up to £100m".

"Negotiations have not broken down, they have been broken up. We have made some progress, but there is more to do," he said. "This was a complete waste of an early-evening. I am so disappointed… those idiots think they are helping, but they are outsiders. They are lunatics."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/23/woodley-ba-strike-cost

:wtf:

They mention 'protesting Walsh' on their website, but somehow fail to say they caused the talks to break up, or that the union is mad at them for what they did: http://www.swp.org.uk/node/167

[EmilyKent]

1. All I've heard so far

is that Derek Simpson was tweeting details from the meeting, and that a crowd broke in saying 'kill Willie, kill Willie'.

[T_i_B]

3. I read Simpson's Twitterfeed last night

Didn't see anything really eye-catching on there if truth be be told.

The more noteworthy thing about this is that the Mail on Sonday were using this as an excuse to go after Twitter. The Mail has taken a real pounding at the hands of Twitter users in recent times, with the most notable episodes being the furore over Jan Moir's thinly veiled homophobia and the #nickcleggsfault hashtag. It was only a matter of time before the Mail started to retaliate.

[non sociopath skin]

2. Simplistic fanatics rather than "lunatics," I think.

I wouldn't be looking for any higher motive than a tendency towards adolescent mischief-making myself, Comrade.

The Skin

[fedsron2us]

4. Because the SWP is full of agent provocateurs and stooges of the intelligence services

and always has been. I thought everyone knew that by now.

Their aim is to undermine any genuine attempt by collectivist labour movements such as trade unions to protect the interests of their members. Those SWP leaders who are not in the pay of the state are vanguardist narcissists of the worst ilk who have nothing but contempt for the poor who they see merely as cannon fodder in their supposed march to power. I will never forget the SWP meeting in the 1980s supposedly called to support the striking miners where the SWP passed around a collecting bucket to raise funds for themselves rather than the NUM or miners families.

Basically they are the sad and the mad led by the bad.

[TheBigotBasher]

5. The SWP used to accuse the WRP of that.

The spooks or rather agents of the various secret services are probably involved in some way in all extremist Parties of the left and right.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

6. The SWP are a bizarre confused entity

They're paralysed by splits and infighting and haven't recovered from being duped by Galloway.

The unions and the other left parties aren't very happy about the SWP's actions at the ACAS/BA talks either.