[Anonymous]

[TROLLYDOLLY]

Bit of insider info……has been found out tonight that BA have been looking into “project columbus” with an outsourced restructuring company. Effectively getting rid off highly experieinced cabin crew and their conditions. The following statement was posted by the BA crew union BASSA just after they were informed by an insider….

“As we prepare for the final stage of the movement of crew and services into Terminal 5, in Waterside a specialist group of 5 managers are working on a top-secret project called “Operation Columbus”, in partnership with Hewitt Associates, an American outsourcing and corporate restructuring specialist.

This group has been secretly working for a number of months on a potential huge bombshell for the entire cabin crew community.

They are looking at the potential feasibility of setting up a subsidiary operation to “employ” all cabin crew at Heathrow and Gatwick.

In simple terms, the plan is to slash costs in a manner that we have previously not thought possible by simply ending, over a short period of time, the current terms, conditions, pay scales and agreements of all current BA cabin crew.

This will be done by setting up a separate structure to employ cabin crew specifically on lower cost terms and conditions.

Legally, this new operation cannot resemble current structures, so all rank and pay scales agreements etcetera, would not be replicated to avoid any potential legal challenge over breach of contract of existing employees.

Routes could then be gradually moved from the current crew operation into this new organisation. Crew who decline to move will either be bought out of current contracts or be simply left behind as the work moves. The legal work on how to do this within current legislation has already been carried out.

The project covers many detailed areas including:

A fixed hourly rate of pay.

The removal of all current ranks.

The ending of all variable pay premiums – CAT, back-to-back, destination, long day, one down, early report, DOA and ETP etc. **

Set salary rate.

All current agreements ended in favour of a LGW style mixed flying option.

LGW is also considered within this project as even this base’s reduced agreement is considered to be too complex and costly.

This is worrying and extremely frightening news, both to us and to you, but we feel obligated to make you aware of its existence.”

.I am very sorry to all our committed passengers…..but looks like the troubles about to start again with BA……..this news looks like our pay could be nearly halved and god knows what will happen to our conditions….our jobs ….believe it or not……are hard enough with the time changes as it is. This is not a recent adventure due to oil prices….BA have been planning this for months….We as a community will fight this.

WE WILL NEED YOUR SUPPORT

Many Thanks

BA Crew ** ETP is hour overtime payment….eg for long range flights….we get over time for flights over 12hrs 30mins…this will no longer be the case B2B…often we do 2 trips in a row……eg…4 atlantic crossings within 5 days….we get payment for doing this….but this is to be no longer.

[VintageKrug]

Seems all BASSA members were sent a text message late Friday night about this.

Both the nature and timing of the communication seem suspect to me; to release such information at a time when all senior management will be away from their desks for the weekend does not really make sense.

What will happen is a load of unfounded speculation, and whether or not the veracity of this statement is proven, there will be a lingering doubt that this is indeed the corporate strategy, and that can only build support for and benefit BASSA.

Note the timing on the second day of operations for BAs new Paris-New York 757 service http://www.flyopenskies.com against which the unions campaigned vociferously.

The reality is that any firm of BA’s size will have a number of strategic options being explored by various consultants, and indeed has a responsibility to shareholders to set out plans in these areas.

Whether or not they will be put into practice is a completely different matter.

However, should oil hit $200/barrel it would be incumbent on senior management to have a back up plan, and this may very well be it.

Such a strategy may be the only way to save the airline in such a scenario.

Would that such foresight were applied operationally within BA………

Expect BA Management to deal with this issue with their usual aplomb over the course of the weekend.

However, I do think it’s a storm in a teacup engineered to scare members, so the seeds of doubt in non members to get them to join BASSA and to make some interesting headlines for the Sunday papers, countering the good news stories surrounding Open Skies.

A rather childish way to communicate to members and something which will probably result in a sleepless night for a few.

Lots of conjecture on PPrune about this already:

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=331998

[TROLLYDOLLY]

This has been been confirmed to the chair of bassa tonight by the head of BA In Flight Services….Simon Talling Smith…he wishes to discuss….and yes a very sleepless night for the cabin crew community……as our lives….dependants and mortgages are based on our annual earnings…..this is a serious matter for 14000 BA Crew

[VintageKrug]

I don’t doubt the existence of such a plan.

Most strategic options reports such as this come up with all sorts of crazy solutions; very few are ever intended to be implemented or importantly to see the light of day. It is quite clear that some form of report has been leaked, without any reference to context or moderation of the message.

The nature of the release by the unions has plainly been calculated to scare you, the members.

It also makes it difficult for the union itself to quietly, and in a considered way, understand why such a plan was being considered and prepare a strategy; a hysterical confrontation has already been engineered, which is in nobody’s best interest.

This is bully boy tactics – directed against its members and BA Corporate – of the worst kind.

What I do doubt is the imminence of its application – did you read how many times the word potentially cropped up in the BASSA statement.

There will be basis in truth, and I don’t doubt that BA will have to cut even further over the coming months and years to sustain itself as an unsubsidised going concern, but I would be very surprised if even the muppets who run BA’s internal relations would have stood for such a directive being enacted in the next few months.

It’s not a nice thought, but most of us don’t work under protected contracts these days and there may well come a time when it’s less expensive to make people redundant (with appropriate payouts – you are VERY well protected under TUPE legislation) rather than keep on employing them on uneconomic terms; that’s the unfortunate reality of the market catching up.

Hope you aren’t too worried TrollyDolly.

[d1rector]

As one of the most important class of stakeholder – a (frequent) customer – I add all my support to BA staff to help resist this sort of change and outsourcing which will only worsten the (only) USP which BA relies on for its profitability and competitive advantage. The quality of the cabin crew is the one factor which consistently marks out BA from the rest. Gratuitous change to business areas which are working and selling well is a recipe for grief.

[AussieM]

One of the Fundamental Components of any Business, is the staffing at all levels, especially those who are the direct face to the public, & produce the delivery of service, whatever area of Business you work within.

There is not a decent Manager or Director, who wouldn’t emphasise this, needless to say in the Airline Industry, where contact from staff members is the face of the business, especially cabin crews. BA seem to have an arrogant dis-regard for their crew teams..a few years ago there were disputes re pay & conditions, & I recall much unhappiness when i flew with them, & i have observed BA make Gaff after Gaff with their “management” of their Company, in every single aspect that we have all heard of in recent years.

Some of the best airlines, strongest performing also, such as LH, KLM in the EU, Singapore Airlines, Etihad, Emirates..their crew are much respected & some of the best services on board.
They are looked after well, treated with good pay & conditions, & it reflects throughout their business.

B A are making a fatal mistake (if this is to be factual), that any business can make, by putting out of joint, but fundamentally failing to look after the staff they employ. It will , has, & will do again, affect the “Feel” of the Airline, & their image yet again, as if it hadnt taken a battering in recent years already.

I stopped flying with BA some years ago, when these same patterns were emerging…they were deceitful, & bullying & sought profit over a balanced ethical business – fundamentally i dont like, nor support such Companies.
I get very bored & tired to hear the poor rationals of BA Management, when they dont take responsibility themselves for the dire images of recent years, Passenger tents at LHR, No catering services on board, the only airline to pull services for days at a time when others keep running the slightest problem emerging, T5, The mess they have made of other Airlines plans/ arrangements at LHR…BA Management …have such arrogance…(BA currently stands for Bloody Awful around the world!)

I switched to Dutch/ KLM, where there is a Genuine phillisophy to look after yr staff, & be an ethical, fair, yet profitable business. There is a distinct difference between stepping onto a KLM plane, compared to a BA one believe me…it shines through the staff in their behaviour & attitudes & the whole atmostphere on board. Ultimately this originates from the Leadership of a Company…

Open Skies, Fuel price surges, Rapidly expanding Middle East Airlines, changing alliances, are all encrouching & building, in a very volatile market, with big players emerging…(EG SQ’s expansion compared to TG’s demise- LH. KLM /AFstrengths IN Europe, the Low Cost airlines’ impact on EU business…how many of the EU Airlines will be here in 5 yrs?

Fundamental management Appears rotten at BA. Most other Airlines In the world are here with a plenty servces from the UK to take up their lost business.
Its a genuine shame that small enterprises, ones that wish to innovate or re-create a lost feel of travel, such as Silverjet fail, whilst these arrogant & obnoxious few individuals you see from BA, actually perform so poorly themselves!!!

I genuinely feel very saddened for the crews…If BA plan to treat their staff in this way, they are quite hypocritical in how they portray their business & services outwardly. But then, perhaps we have seen this pattern over years now..another Management nail in the coffin of BA!

(I dont work in the sector, but as a Company Director/ Healthcare Professional Director, I am a keen, & accurate observer of Corporate Behaviour. I also put my money/ business, where i see a Company with like minded values)

[kneesroundmyears]

having long had the impression that BA crew found passengers an inconvenience to them enjoying their benefits and as a result travelling with anyone else I don’t offer any sympathy at all.
Perhaps customer service will improve as a result of this move.

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