"There was an air of enthusiasm.........."

"There was an air of enthusiasm with every man and woman prepared to do their own and any other job 24 hours a day if need be"

A wonderful quote from Sir Keith Granville, later Chairman of BOAC ,on joining Imperial Airways as a ten shillings a week trainee. (Source, researched by John Williams, is "Speedbird", the British Airways Overseas Division staff magazine in April 1974 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the creation of Imperial Airways.)

And then there came unions ostensibly to better the lot of the employee. Restrictive working practices,limited hours, sharp demarcation lines,meal breaks, rest periods, higher wages, all presumably to make the employee better paid and happier.

Or maybe not. Compare the happiness/smile factor of some highly unionised legacy airlines with their high pay,plethora of additional allowances, generous rest periods, lengthy layovers,and highly specific working practices with some of the more recent,lower paid and harder working and much less unionised and union minded ones. Which are the less strike prone and are the most pleasant to fly with? Which come over as the most human?

It's about ethos,- and a realisation that hard work can be more interesting and satisfying than taking it easy. It can be argued that, far from making people's lives better and happier, the unions have disempowered them and turned interesting jobs into drudgery. Barriers between jobs and between employees and their managements have been artificially erected and exploited. Not surprising as unions need unhappy, not highly motivated, people. Where this demoralisation has happened it shows and nowhere more so than in the airline industry. Sir Keith and his colleagues had it right, ten shillings a week and all.