It used to be the case that you could count on the unions to stop this kind of thing. But here, Thatcher destroyed most of them - see miners strike - Sadly the EA example shows what can happen when a workforce is denied access to a union. How long would EA last if its workforce just walked out? Its ok syaing they could hire another workforce, but the damage in product continuity could be huge. I'm not being nieve here, I've had 1st hand experiance of this. I used to be in the navy, specifically on the QE2. We pulled in to Barbados, bringing wealthy Americans out on holiday. The dispute was about time-off in port. Which means we didn't just want a day off when we were entitled to it, we wanted it where we could bugger-off for the day instead of sitting around aboard ship. Well the catering staff - waiters, cooks etc walked off the ship and onto the quay. The captain and the officers figured that the ship could sail without them if necessary. Within hours the deck crew - sailors, seamen, bosun etc joined the others on the dock too. Again the Officers figured that they could let go the ropes and sail off into the sunset without them. Then we, the engineering crew, mechanics, firemen, grease-monkeys including yours truly had a meeting to decide what we were going to do. In a flash the Engineering Officers got wind of this meeting and invited themselves to it. In 10 minutes they understood that we were 'just thinking' of going ashore. Within an hour we had a draft agreement for days off in port and it was ratified before sailing time. People have make a stand sometimes - it ain't easy, but it usually works.

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All the Woes of a World by Jonathan Icknield aka The Bryster

And in my final hours - I would cling rather to the tattooed hand of kindness - than the unblemished hand of hate...