BA Cabin Crew Strike – Consolidated Thread

Back to Forum
Viewing 15 posts - 421 through 435 (of 500 total)

  • dutchyankee
    Participant

    The only ones degrading this great British brand is the Union themselves. Any company worth their salt would likewise spend time on contingency plans when threatened by strike action. Good on WW and his team for taking the right action, and for the volunteers who will cover for the strkers. A true indcation of ‘pig-headedness’ is a complete bias in favor of a crumbling Union that only knows how to use the threat of strike action to get their point across. BA crew are the highest paid, have received a salary increase this year, and were very well warned of what actions would occur if they stuck against their company. Good on BA for not stepping down from their promises. Unite/Bassa, and Alasdair it seems, need to wake up to the harsh realities of the economic situation the world is currently in, and in particular to the industry they are in, and stop this silliness now.


    Alasdair
    Participant

    I think dutchyankee amongst others have swallowed a Mail/Telegraph pill who have created a mass hysteria surrounding the severity every company faces in “these times” and how everyone needs to show some restraint and how people should be lucky to be in jobs… blah blah blah!

    Wise up. I repeat, WW has quoted BA is in a robust state and they have all taken millions on £’s worth of pay rises on the board. If they are the highest paid, which they are not by the way – consider KLM, Iberia, Lufthansa, Scandinavian etc. then aren’t they just lucky for accepting the terms and conditions and pay BA offered them?

    I am saying a content workforce will go out of their way to deliver outstanding results for their company, this is elementary. It is clear, for some bizarre reason, BA doesn’t want this for its shareholders.


    dutchyankee
    Participant

    I dare not even imagine what pill (s) Alasdair has swallowed. Times are great, there is no economic downturn, things are just peachy. Why not compare BMI and Virgin salaries with those of BA? BA pays in most cases double, so why not compare within the same country, operating environment and cost structure. Of course happy employees perform better, but that does not mean a company has to be held to ransom by a Union that has lied to and bullied it’s members into taking illegal strike actions, all in the effort to keep the employees ‘happy.’ So every time they aren’t happy, give in. Sounds like brilliant business sense.


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    Unfortunately, that is how the company was run until WW came on the scene. BASSA is just not used to not getting what it wants.

    And it does not just seek to negotiate on T&CS/salaries etc. – it was actually more used to having almost operational control; setting service levels, and being consulted on every single change.

    Those days a over.

    Evidence re: dutchyankee’s post about BA paying legacy cabin crew double what Virgin were paid is here:

    http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article6466748.ece

    The source for the stats was independent CAA figures. Indisputable.


    Alasdair
    Participant

    Once again, sensationalism is creeping in. You don’t need to talk about the whole economic picture when focussing on this issue at hand.

    BA is doing well, and it has achieved this with a sterling job done by it’s front line staff (who you consider overpaid – but like I said, accepted what BA offered them!). Admittedly, management has made wise decisions regarding cost-cutting elsewhere.

    Crew are now faced with a potential reduction in earning capacity which could end up squeezing them out of a job (whilst observing rising profits, and SUBSTANTIAL pay rises for top management) .

    The thing is, who knows? Why should they stand idly by and watch this happen? It doesn’t seem to me like they are ‘holding to ransom’, they just want a secure future as per the rest of the company.

    By the way, most crew I have met in my life have their own minds and would wouldn’t be bullied into anything. I actually consider the situation of coercing individuals not to strike by withdrawing staff travel, more akin to bullying and harassment than your given example.

    Oh, may I also address the issue of price fixing here? The fact BA may well be responsible for £300million in fines. Not great business sense.


    dutchyankee
    Participant

    Just to clarify, I never said they were over-paid, I said they were the highest paid, big difference! I have huge respect for the job Flight Attendants do, and am a loyal BA patron. I simply do not believe there is any merit in this fight, the Union leadership knows this, but persists because if they don’t the writing is on the wall for their own jobs. It is not bullying when you give advance warning such as travel perks being revoked. Why should you receive a perk when you do not do the job? Bullying such as harassment, physical threats and the like is what Unite are known for.


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    I really think it would be better if BASSA simply bought an airline and ran it themselves.

    They seem to know so much about how firms aren’t affected by global economic trends, are run by Unions rather than their management, and exist to keep staff happy and pay the highest salaries possible to its workforce.

    Duncan Holley, who leads the BASSA Union, is no longer meployed by BA, but is holding on by the skin of his teeth to his lucrative (estimated) £75,000 ++ income, gleaned from Union subs, for as long as he possibly can.

    All the while leading crew into an unprotected strike.


    Alasdair
    Participant

    Of course it’s harassment dutchy, without that threat many more crew would have unified to support their colleagues and protect their future. It has deep consequences I am sure.

    A “fight” as you call it seemingly is merited as there is much uncertainty over their future, whether fellow contributors like VintageKrug or yourself wish to admit.

    And interestingly, I do not believe collecting money is an act of evil and warranted suspension… as BA management finally came to their sense and realised.


    CallMeIshmael
    Participant

    Krug let BASSA continue to run BA because as you have said in an earlier post “BA which has been and is being run effectively in the private sector for the past three decades”.


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    Interesting interview with Tony Woodley, starts at 09:36:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00w78gt/PM_29_11_2010/

    – “original dispute well since over”

    – “5,500-6,000 who lost travel” = an admission that the number who took industrial action was nowhere near the 7,000 repeatedly claimed by Duncan Holley/BASSA. BA still claims it was 4,500 at most, and this wooly approach to key statistics would back that claim up.

    – 22 days of strike action “achiev[ed] nothing in my view”


    Flytoomuch
    Participant

    Here’s some perspective – whilst industrial relations across BA have not been the best (and I put this down to the post-privatisation transformation requiring efficiency changes), the support for management from the rest of BA staff that I alluded to in this current cabin crew strike has largely been because of the perception that cabin crew have been unreasonably militant since privatisation, resulting in them keeping most of their inflated wages/T&Cs and not suffering the pain and taking the medicine when others have.

    Even many within their ranks recognised that – many want these ‘militants / dinosaurs’ sorted out by management.

    And then there were the ‘extreme views’ which really alienated support – strikers (allegedly) articulating out loud that they’d rather see BA go bust then lose, the determination to press on with the Christmas strikes which the courts stopped (apparently there’s a fuss now amongst staff who’ve lost staff travel and they won’t be able to shift their families off on holidays this Christmas – comeuppance, me thinks)….

    As for the bullying and harassment argument, Alisdair – what you’re alleging as harassment – how does that compare with a masked horde of angry strikers screaming, “SCAB” at you?

    Let’s get this straight – I am a BA shareholder, a gold card holder with a decent mileage balance which I’ve been able to use thus far, friends working with BA (no, none in management) and thus every desire to see BA move forward with an improved offering, including better service and better staff morale (for my friends’ benefit as well as the impact it would have on BA’s service and business. And I think so far Willie has done well on this very difficult one.


    dutchyankee
    Participant

    Alisdair, ‘more would have supported their colleagues to protect their future??” Are you serious. What future would they have had the airline gone bust? I know, I know, you say everything is perfect in the airline industry and the tales of tough times is all hogwash, but most sane people would differ with you. It sounds like you are a Unite/Bassa mouthpiece, that can see no wrong what-so-ever in whatever threatening, harassing, manipulative means the unions use. Good to see your ‘dues’ at work for you!!!


    JudgedRed
    Participant

    Trade unions have no place in modern society. If employees feel hard done by they should leave and find alternative employment.

    Companies who have poor relations with their workers either by accident or by design will find themselves unable to attract an ever dwindling supply of skilled talent.

    I suggest a poll of cabin crew at Virgin, to see how many would swap places with their counterparts at BA.

    90% take up anybody ?


    Charles-P
    Participant

    The validity of a strike is for me always illustrated by how many out of the total membership bother to vote for it and how many break the strike and work on the day. By those two criteria BA was vindicated.


    CallMeIshmael
    Participant

    BA uses smoke and mirrors in order to paint a more rosie picture than is real – example Flights cancelled only count those cancelled within 24 hours of flight. It is usual to merge/transfer flights in advance in normal ops then the flight is no deamed cancelled. Hence T5 resembling a ghost town whilst BA asserts 80-90% of its sceduled flights went out.
    Also when counting people who take industrial action, as the majority of crew are either en-route, downline, on rest, working 66% or 50% rosters they are not in a position to take IA at a point in time. So BA reporting only 1,500 out of 10,000 crew took action is disengenuous as only 2,000 would have been scheduled to take a flight out on the strike day and thus been in a position to take IA.

Viewing 15 posts - 421 through 435 (of 500 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Be up-to-date
Magazine Subscription
To see our latest subscription offers for Business Traveller editions worldwide, click on the Subscribe & Save link below
Polls