Like we have been saying for years, all you have to do to completely derail the state is refuse to obey and there is nothing that they can do about it. The pilots have won their fight against being made the test subjects for ID Cards and there has not been the slightest sign of this climb-down from the state. That may be because we are witnessing the ignominious and long overdue end to fascist New Liebour but whatever the reason for the silent u-turn, it happened, and it happened because the pilots refused to obey.

June 4, 2009
The Home Office has made a “very quiet U-turn” over its plans to make airport ID cards compulsory for all airside workers, Public Servant Daily reports.

An initial roll-out of the controversial cards – which the Unite union said had “insulted” its members – was due to take place at London City and Manchester airports.

But with the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) threatening legal action over the move, the government appears to have backtracked on its plans.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who announced her resignation from the cabinet yesterday, approved the early-adopter scheme for Manchester workers in May.

It has now emerged, however, that buried within the fine print of her statement was the revelation that the 18-month scheme will apply solely to new starters.

A BALPA spokesman told Public Servant Daily that it was unclear what had prompted the revision. He welcomed the apparent U-turn, but reiterated that once the scheme is rolled out nationally “pilots who refuse to have the card will lose their job”.

The Home Office responded by confirming that its long-term plans have not changed.

“We have previously said that identity cards will be mandatory for all airside workers, just as other pre-employment checks are today, so that the benefits from the scheme can be realised across the aviation sector,” a spokesperson told the website.

Airport workers have steadfastly opposed the introduction of ID cards, insisting that extensive vetting procedures already in place make them redundant.

[…]

Cheapflights

The disgusting fascist queen of the aparatchicks, the witch Jacqui Smith, now resigned, caved to pressure from the brave members of BALPA.

The thinking of the witch and her minions must have gone like this:

“we are determined to roll this out. This trial is not really needed; we can iron out the bugs with a wider sample user base. If we antagonize pilots, who have a high status in society as eminently sensible and inherently trustworthy people, the public will pay attention to the details of their complaints, which could seriously derail the project. When the public realizes that pilots are willing to strike over this matter, all eyes will be on the details of what we are planning and the jig will be up. Let us quietly drop the pilots trial. No one will notice, the schedule will not be affected and damaging information about the system’s flaws will not be amplified by a very public pilots strike and its inevitable disruption.”

Of course, what they fail to understand is that the resistance of the pilots is only a single instance of a much wider resolve to absolutely refuse ID Cards that will not go away, and that will become more and more ferocious as time goes on.

All of this can be avoided by a Tory government putting an end to it once and for all. If they do not do this, it will be the Poll Tax all over again, and they will throw away the massive swing and good will they are going to be given.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 5th, 2009 at 8:31 pm and is filed under NIR, Post Tipping Point, Told You So, Yes yes yes!.