[Hippocampus]

VK hits the spot. It’s all very well bleating on about “rebuilding trust” but that is impossible where BASSA poisons the well at every opportunity.

In truth this dispute is not about trust, macho/machismo bullying management etc. It’s about a union branch, quite rightly described as dysfunctional, desperately trying to cling on to its stranglehold over LHR that is unwilling to accept modernisation and BA’s right to manage.

Even if BA agreed to every one of BASSA’s demands (all 14 of them), I would put money on BASSA pulling something out of the hat to sabotage a settlement. I’d also put money on the Unite leadership deeply regretting ever giving support to this dispute. Unfortunately, once it became clear that BA would not back down after the strike ballot result, they had no option but to go ahead with strike action and nearly a year after the first strike, it has absolutely nothing to show for itself.

And I don’t buy the idea that BA winning this dispute will leave crew demoralised and not commited to customers. The majority of crew did not take part in the strike. BASSA’s membership continues to fall (even by its own numbers it is less than 9000). There may be a disgruntled militant minority. But it was ever thus and the airline will be better off without them.

[Alasdair]

Glad you two have convinced yourself accordingly… Doesn’t say much really.

[VintageKrug]

\More drivel from Unite, pretending they care about crew at Gatwick:

—————–
The lastest from CC89 – Part I:

17th January 2001 – Gatwick – The Writing On The Wall, The Sequel

In December 2009 BA said it would be immoral to impose a pay cut to Gatwick crew.

In March 2010, they unilaterally imposed more than a 10% pay cut on Gatwick new entrants. This is made up of no overnight allowance (ONA), no over time and no minimum flight pay. The ONA is approx GBP10 per night away. With most main crew having an average of 12 nights down route a month this works out to an average of GBP120, or, a minimum of GBP1440 per year. This is at least a 10% pay cut from existing crew pay. Outrageous?!

Oh, but that’s only for new entrants we hear you say. It doesn’t affect me. We are all ok……..

Are we?

Let’s take a look back over the last few months and see some examples of where LGW crew have been rewarded for `Backing BA’.

Your reps still remain evicted from their offices on the 4th floor, on Mike Grimes authority. All calls to the office and emergency mobiles are dealt with in the reps own time or days off. Yet, still your reps remain strong.

The Duty Managers now state that the crew work to scheme in disruption.

LGW do not have a disruption agreement, and there is no section within your MOA that states you work to Scheme at such times. Down route sickness is addressed in the MOA, and when things go wrong, the MOA must be adhered to. It was designed that way as by its very nature it is less restrictive than disruption agreements of other fleets. Simply put, your agreements are being thrown out the window by your employer just as they have tried to do at LHR, and the reason for it is because they consider LGW to be people who don’t stand up for themselves and challenge the breach.

As a result of the general disregard for your MOA, another dynamic to disruption was the method the company chose to deal with all those who could not physically or safely get in to work during the snow, which you will recall, was a national crisis. BA once again decided they would not be a fair and reasonable employer and as a rule have deducted pay by way of unpaid leave or deducted your paid annual leave, for any absence. This is in spite of the notable efforts LGW crew all made to get in to work as soon as it was possible and safe to do so and a large number volunteered to work in the terminal.

Conversely, during the snow, the company were also less than able to `get to work’, when one crew stuck in TPA had to arrange their own hotel accommodation and transport.

For permanent crew employed pre-2010, absence management and sickness is covered by EG300. Well known and established custom and practice ensures that cabin crew may have 2 C.C. Regs discounts per year to alleviate restrictions in JPM’s relating to blocked ears and sickness and diarrhoea.

But the Company now claim you are only entitled to 2 discounts per lifetime!

Your reps are systematically being refused offline to accompany and represent you at EG300 stage 1 and stage 2 meetings. A Stage 3 meeting results in a written warning.

We are now receiving more and more calls from crew who are being suspended without being offered the support of a union rep. You are entitled to a rep, and your reps are being refused time offline to accompany you in the event of this `formal meeting’.

Your existing cabin crew Customer Service Trainers have all to write an essay by way of a pseudo reapplication for there jobs in order to be able to now train new entrants. Nearly all of your trainers are extremely experienced in their role, and some have been training for longer than the individuals requiring them to carry out this task have actually been managers or employed by BA.

Bill Francis claimed Mixed Fleet would represent opportunities for Gatwick.

Nearly everyone has been rejected for CSM and only a handful were successful. The rest of the crew at Gatwick were considered to be sub-standard for that role, future talent crew or main crew, although, many of you now acknowledge that our appraisal of the new fleet was accurate and you consider yourself lucky not to have been selected.

Already, colleagues are reporting how in-humane Mixed Fleet scheduling is with the ability for the company to reduce rest after a longhaul to only 1 day!

Ask yourself this question – Do you really think the Company intends for YOU to be on enhanced terms and conditions to those at LHR? Mike Grimes is already reported to have said that its vital Gatwick remains competitive against the new Mixed fleet…..

There is an increasing reference at the Gatwick listening forums to LGW having to give up overtime in order to compete with Mixed Fleet. It is our belief that BA will make strident moves towards removing your overtime allowance once the current ballot for industrial action is over. We also believe that there will be more cost saving cuts under the new LGW MD Silla Maizey, held in abeyance during the industrial unrest. One of these changes will undoubtedly be to seek LGW’s removal from the NSP.

Have you noticed how it is now practically impossible to get moving days, compassionate days and dependency days from OST.

Let’s talk about the “Limited mechanism for transfer”. In Bills own words this equates to 10 per year. If you’re number 300 on the list, and 3 from each grade are transferred, then it follows that it would take 90 years for you to transfer. Is that acceptable to you?

You may recall the saga of double dropping in the Caribbean after the St Luisa hurricane. Not only was there not any agreement with the TU’s for this, there wasn’t even the courtesy of a phone call or email to advise us of the plan to do this. So when we had crew calling us concerned about hours, not only were we totally unaware of the operation, but when we tried to discuss the matter with the Duty Managers, your itineraries weren’t even recorded correctly within TRACIE and so nobody could accurately assess your hours until the duty was complete. In one case, nobody from BA could advise the location of or what a particular aircraft and its crew were doing that day.

From 2009 onwards, none of your new Hotels have been inspected for approval by the TU.

And let’s not forget the outstanding failures to agree and breaches of your agreement with: London City, The Maldives and Cancun.

The company’s interpretation of two sections of your MOA – N.1. and G.1.

both of which regulate your longhaul flying hours have been interpreted in such a way that it produces an absurdity. Both interrelate as the TU agreed them. The Company’s creative and deliberate misinterpretation renders the whole of section G.1. (agreed specifically for LGW Fleet long haul flying) as obsolete. Think back and remember that we cautioned the LGW community about accepting any breach in the MOA, regardless of how small, as this would profoundly weaken your entire agreement. Again, evidence of this has now come to fruition with the remainder of your agreement now being ignored and misinterpreted at whim.

These are just a few of the examples of which we are aware and, from experience, demonstrate that the flood gates of change are barely withstanding the company’s surging desire to bring drastic and unilateral change and imposition to the way in which we work at LGW. The results of this WILL undeniably affect your earnings and lifestyle.

Indeed, we would confidently go so are as to say that the ONLY reason more drastic changes have not already been imposed at LGW is as a result of the lengthy industrial dispute which until now, most LGW crew thought was `all about LHR’. If you hadn’t yet realised it LGW – the writing is on the wall. This is YOUR dispute too. Heads stay in the sand at their future peril……

We have purposely reduced the number of emails we have directly sent the Gatwick crew, as feedback suggested that you felt overwhelmed by their content and would rather have personal dialogue with your reps.

If you want a glimpse of what working life will be like at Gatwick without a union, look no further. In some way each and every one of you by now has experienced detriment by not having the union offices open. As your elected representatives it’s our job to draw to your attention any concerns we have for our collective future.

And so our last message to you is this: If you continue to back BA in their union busting campaign, please do not forget that you have been clearly, concisely and repeated forewarned of the consequences – in writing and in person.

We urge you all to come together as a community and stand up for yourselves.

Simply put, this is your last chance. Your reps and a number of your brave colleagues have the courage and will show you how. They will man the picket line for Gatwick’s future, not Heathrow, as their community is more than capable of protecting itself.

Your reps call on your support to help you protect your career. Please do not turn your back on them, as they can’t fight for Gatwick alone.

It’s imperative that every crew member in the community has the opportunity to read and discuss the content of this email. We therefore, invite you to print out a copy and take it to a room party down route on your next trip for a group discussion. Only by coming together as a community will you protect your future, as individually we are all at risk. Vote YES for your future.

Proudly standing alongside our Gatwick colleagues in solidarity for your future, Your reps.

——————–

[VintageKrug]

In this one a misleading suggestion that Gatwick crew are voting in the ballot based on the Mixed Fleet contract, which has no relevance to them whatsoever:
————–
The latest – Part II:

17th January 2011 – Your Last chance

The ballot closes this week, Friday.

This will be your last chance to your voice heard.

When the ballot closes, the votes will be counted and the results will be published (including the spoilt ballot papers should there be any).

You, as the members of this union, will have spoken in an open, democratic and fair way. Everybody has had the chance to vote and so we will respect the result whatever the outcome, because that will reflect what you want us to do.

HOWEVER, IN THE MEANTIME – Imagine there’s no future.

Imagine what you would feel like doing the roster on the link below.

This is a genuine mixed fleet roster. To see such a roster laid out in the way that is so familiar to us, yet distorted beyond recognition, is quite frightening and brings home the reality of mixed fleet and what it will mean. Please read it and imagine having to do this roster pattern month after month after month, year after year…

These were “your” routes, more will follow; your work pool will simply shrink away.

TO VIEW ROSTER CLICK THIS LINK CLICK HERE

Who says so?

British Airways – The spin and hard sell below is courtesy not of us, but taken directly from the BA.com website.

“It’s not simply that our Mixed Fleet flies to more places all the time, but the sheer diversity on offer. One minute you could be scraping snow off your boots in Denver, and the next you’re on a white, sandy beach in Mauritius. Then you can throw in the dazzling lights of the Vegas strip and a night’s shopping in beautiful Budapest.

Mixed Fleet is a combination of long haul and short haul flights from Heathrow and our route network continues to expand. In fact, it’s growing month on month, with many new destinations on the horizon from the Americas to the Far East – including Haneda in Japan.

One of our own newest locations is Mauritius, which may not be a novelty for some cabin crew, however the opportunity to spend 2 nights on this beautiful island certainly could be.”

Anything here we have not already told you was going to happen?

No, in truth it is everything we have always said it would be and more from the exposure of Columbus to date (and not in a good way)! This is why your vote is so important, not to us but to you and your families.

Please read again the mixed fleet contract, CLICK HERE and the roster and then consider that all that separates you from this is 90 days notice and the strong union that you are part of. The union that Willie Walsh is still determined to smash even though a deal may be achievable.

To those who have not voted – If things do not change, your future career prospects are poor and will remain so unless you play your part by voting immediately to secure it. There will not be another opportunity, and there will not even be a strong union if you don’t, just an ever expanding mixed fleet and 3 months notice…

[Potakas]

VK, may i you ask you if you are aware when they will announce the results of the ballot? Is this going to be on the 21st Jan?

Thanks

[VintageKrug]

From BA.com:

—————–
Unite has informed us of its decision to ballot BA cabin crew members for further strike action.

The ballot will run between 21 December and 21 January. If the ballot result is in favour of industrial action, the earliest the crew could go on strike would be 28 January.

Should there be any industrial action, we are determined to keep flying and will ensure our customers are looked after.

We have strong contingency plans in place and should industrial action take place:

– we will operate a normal schedule at London Gatwick and London City

– we will aim to fly 100 per cent of our longhaul operation at London Heathrow

– we will aim to fly a substantial proportion of our shorthaul operation at London Heathrow

—————-

In reality it is only Domestic departures from Heathrow which are high risk, with some shorthaul from Heathrow being affected; the sort of disruption caused by extremely High Winds; which is a nice analogy for BASSA’s efforts on many levels.

[Alasdair]

Industrial Action can take many forms P.Sepsas, I just don’t like the thought of being disrupted having booked with BA after the date 28th so kindly provided by the above.

In any case, and in my situation, I certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable spending the bulk of £2,500 on BA to Sth Africa when the flights would be operated by faux crew from areas such as IT, Engineering and Check-in when I am presented with better value more appealing options including Emirates & even Sth African.

[AdrianHenryAsia]

Alasdair – I would agree – especially after my last experience in First during the last industrial action.

Just because the flight operates doesn’t mean you have happy passengers if the onboard service suffers as a result, especially in premium cabins.

And what did my complaint yield with BA? Basically a letter saying I should be pleased the flight went at all and I should be thankful they got me from A to B. Not great customer service by anyone’s standard.

So, I will personally take “We aim to operate 100% of our longhaul flights from Heathrow” with a large pinch of salt unless BA can guarantee that the service I pay for will be available.

[VintageKrug]

Though it is fair to say that there has been a great deal more training for the Volunteer Crew than was the case previously, especially in the specific case you mention of Food and Beverage provision.

Given less than half the regular crew actually walked off the job last time, it is inconceivable that more than that number would walk off this time, with the threat of no protection hanging over their heads.

The best way you can support BA cabin crew is to keep booking, and keep flying with the airline; part of BASSA’s strategy was to discourage people from booking with the airline, and that strategy is not borne out in the passenger stats.

[MartynSinclair]

“Passenger stats” are you refering to the current passenger stats, the stats over the last 3 months or during the last strike?

[HonestCrew]

The stats on how many crew walked off the job are easily manipulated by BA to look better on their behalf.

“Less than half the regular crew actually walked off the job” is a classic BA line because the figures they chose to publish were for the TOTAL crew numbers. You will never have anywhere near half the crew reporting for duty on one day. Crew are either on days off, downroute already or reporting for duty. If on average a crewmember reports for duty 3 times a month, there being 30 or so days in a month, means approx 10% of crew reporting per day.
BA’s figures are massaged to include those crew already downroute so to look as if most of the crew are working through the strike. It is not possible to take part in IA if already away when the strike starts.

DONT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ!! Truthfully, if everyone knew the tactics being employed by our flag carrier to pull the wool over the eyes of the public you would be extemely disappointed.

Has the union achieved their aims, maybe, maybe not, but an important, unofficial reason for this possible strike ahead is the utter contempt in which our national airline has for its frontline staff.

Best way to support your crew is to let BA know that you are not prepared to pay for a ticket and receive second class service from stand in crew and that there is no substitute for experience.

I had to work with some volunteer crew drafted in after the ‘ash cloud of doom’ last year. A passenger had an epileptic fit in the galley mid-flight and one of the ‘heroes’ lost it completely, burst in to tears whilst screaming “OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!”…..THESE are your new crew ladies and gentlemen, computer department bods with no people skills, groundstaff who just want a day to go shopping in New York, brown-nose yes-men that want another string to their bow ready for the next jobs-for-the-boys reshuffle of management. A large part of the new Mixed Fleet are currently made up of rejects and excess from other departments who have had to trim down and try to find new positions within BA for the staff they must cull or people who other departments just want to get rid of but can’t sack ( because being rubbish at your job is not a sackable offence these days!)..They just plonk them in as cabin crew because we are seen as the one’s who just give out tea and coffee and not the one’s who are forever making up for mistakes by other depatments who just can’t get it right!

Further up this thread is a post by Craig”just because you’ve been doing the job longer doesn’t make you better at it” Watson. Well, I tell you, you may not need a Phd to be cabin crew but to learn how to handle people doesn’t come overnight. Maybe Mr. Watson is the perfect passenger, polite, gracious, courteous, but to learn how to deal with the numerous a-holes that we encounter week-in, week-out….to deal with folk who are a total mess because they have suffered a bereavement and are flying out to collect a body….. to deal with a 6ft 5 lump who had taken prescription pills, mixed with booze and it off his trolley trying to open a door mid-flight……to simply knowing what different customers of different nationalities would prefer, when they would like it, what they expect and how you should engage them…….this takes experience.

I do not want a medal. I am not one of these crew who shouts “we are safety professionals!!!!” at the top of my voice. I am a people person who is a much better crewmember than when I started flying and I promise you this, I know this, if the brown stuff hits the fan, you do not want to be relying on volunteers and a whole plane of inexperienced crew…..which, now BA have opened up Mixed Fleet recruitment externally specifying “no flying experience required”, is exactly what you will be getting.
Boshing out a sandwich and coffee on a 40 min Amsterdam flight is one thing. Dealing with an onboard fire or your mother having a heart attack over the Atlantic is another.

I am not saying BA crew are the best in the world, but to belittle us in the way the management and some members of the public have done stinks of ingorance and strengthens the determination to end this malarkey with a decent, fair and loophole-free agreement.

I’m sorry, but if trying to save my career, the career I was enticed with, the career I was told will be a worthwhile one, the career I gave up a previous good career for, means someone missing one business trip or one holiday from their entire lifetime then I am going to fight for it.

[Travellator]

Yes but that missed holiday from an entire lifetime may just be the holiday of a lifetime e.g. an elderly person visiting a relative abroad for what may be the last time or a terminally sick child likewise – that hurt is inexcusable.

[pomerol]

HonestCrew

Normally when you find yourself in a hole, it is best to stop digging.

[VintageKrug]

There is a suggestion that flights will be solely crewed by “inexperienced” Volunteer Crew. In fact, these people are in some cases former cabin crew who have taken desk jobs, and ALL have been trained to the required CAA standard. They also fly alongside regular crew who choose not to strike. So there is no truth in the suggestion that these crew are not properly equipped to deal with an in flight situation.

Though slightly confused in HonestCrew’s post, Volunteer Cabin Crew (VCC) is a different group from Mixed Fleet (MF).

Volunteer Crew are indeed temporary crew drawn from “desk jobs” in other parts of the airline, who want to ensure the continuation of the airline and their pensions.

Mixed Fleet are newly employed, long term dedicated BA cabin crew. Mixed Fleet has a rigorous selection procedure, and is similarly trained to CAA standards. In many (rather than just some) cases they are former crew from airlines such as Thomson, Virgin and bmi. Some will indeed be new to flying, and will exhibit the same need to gain experience as any cabin crew member (even, no doubt, the same as HonestCrew did on his/her first few weeks in the role); but just as HonestCrew was initially supervised by those who do have the many years of experience needed to impart the additional skills which make BA crews stand out, so a similar mentoring programme exists on board Mixed Fleet.

And please note, no-one “enticed” anyone to a job at BA. It is a contractual, business relationship. Nothing more, nothing less.

When someone’s only defence is to state “DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ” then I think we know the argument is lost; by all means take a view on whether you believe facts to be manipulated, but also be aware that BA is legally compelled to publish accurate statistics to the market, Unite is not. Many of the situations referenced by me and others who do not believe striking is the answer are referenced with links to BASSA’s own websites, or independent news sources.

When people fly, it can sometimes be for business, or sometimes purely pleasure; strikes are an inconvenience, but manageable. When people have weddings, births and most importantly funerals to attend, the decision of one individual to create chaos by refusing the offer of a pay RISE, then I know where my sympathies lie, and so do most of the public.

The Unite General Secretary himself said that the BA strike “has achieved nothing”.

The facts about the turnout and support enjoyed by Unite in the first strike are set out below, and support the statement that less than 50% of crew actually walked out on strike. If you have different figures, published by Unite, then please publish them here, with a link to their source:

Last ballot:

Ballot papers issued: 11,691

Ballot papers returned: 9,282

Spolit papers: 11

Yes votes: 7,482

No votes: 1,789

BA stated [“Approx strikers: 4,900 (including 600 who returned to work)”]

Unite has said 10,216 ballot papers were issued in that ballot.

Source = Unite’s own figures at:

http://www.unitetheunion.org/news__events/latest_news/ba_cabin_crew_vote_overwhelmin.aspx

Unite stated “over 7,000” but then Toby Woodley himself stated 5,500-6,000 strikers lost staff travel on the PM programme on R4 29/11. So there is complete disarray over the actual numbers of strikers, but given BA actually runs the service and the payroll, and has a legal imperative to inform actual rather than manufactured figures, I know which source is more credible.

In the event, I was able to fly all three of my flights as normal during the strike, with one slightly disrupted.

It was clear that the strike is not supported by more than 50% of staff, and less so now Mixed Fleet is with us, and growing.

Note that Mixed Fleet was off the table in the initial discussions with BASSA, and was only introduced as a consequence of the initial strike action. Any further action will justify an accelerated recruitment programme for this division.

[Hippocampus]

So on the basis of the above (official) numbers, 1,475 fewer cabin crew are members of the union than the last ballot (which excluded crew who had taken voluntary redundancy). Comments from crew suggest that many members who have left the union have still received ballot papers, indicating that the number of crew in the union is less than 10,216.

BASSA and CC89 are in a difficult position. They may feel the need to ramp up the rhetoric and industrial action to test the company’s contingency plans as the last round of strikes did not ground the airline. However, they risk alienating the majority of moderate members further and further falls in membership could eventually lead to derecognition.

[Author]

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