[Anonymous]

[VintageKrug]

British Airways cabin crew have voted by 92% to accept a peace deal and end their bitter dispute with the airline.

Here is the formal offer made by BA on which cabin crew were asked to vote:

http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1103933565912-9/Final+Joint+Agreed+Settlement+Stoke+Place+110511.pdf

Now being reported by BT:

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/breaking-news-ba-crew-vote-to-accept-strike-deal

[Hippocampus]

Number balloted was 9,888; turnout was 72 per cent

For acceptance 6,509 (92 per cent)
Against acceptance 579 (8 per cent)
Spoilt papers 9

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

This dispute cost BASSA and CC89 3,000 members.

[pixelmeister]

Hmmm… so common sense has finally prevailed amongst the membership. How different things might have been if the union had recommended the nigh identical offer put forward this time last year and achieved the same result.

Getting this vote is, however, just the first step in the road to sorting out the breakdown between management and union. Unite still have to put in place the successor to the current branch structure. On top of that there are a number of other hurdles that need clearing by both sides, but at least it’s a start. The lady of ample proportions is not at full throttle yet, but appears to have finished gargling and has taken to the stage.

[VintageKrug]

It would be good to see Unite removing the picture of Walsh with devil eyes which has adorned its website for the past two years.

[Charles-P]

UNITE must be wondering how they can ‘spin’ this to their members as a victory.

[VintageKrug]

Seems the membership are still rather sensitive:

BASSA > Latest News
MESSAGE FROM LIZANNE MALONE
Jul 25th, 2011 by admin

Dear Colleagues

Just over a week ago during a 2-day meeting with BA, Bill Francis mentioned to me he was taking part in the GNR in aid of “Dreamflight”.

One of the purposes of this get together was to start to build bridges with the company, something we as a union are very aware needs to happen if we want to face the future with confidence.

With this in mind I told Bill that BASSA would sponsor him, if he wore a BASSA shirt on his run. The gesture was well-intentioned, the money was going to an excellent cause and I hoped my offer would be accepted for the right reasons, although I realised old wounds had hardly healed.

But sometimes working on peace is harder than waging war.
It seems my offer has caused offence with sections of the membership and, in hindsight, I can understand that.

Perhaps a little more water has yet to flow under the bridge and there has to be more concrete evidence that BA are more proactive in putting the past behind them.

I have this morning telephoned Bill to tell him that perhaps the BASSA membership are not quite ready to embrace this gesture just yet and that he needs to appreciate every move he and BA make are still viewed through suspicious eyes. Bill took all this on board and was happy for us to make the donation direct to “Dreamflight”, which will now happen.

I am still committed to making sure that the deal which you all endorsed is a success. To do that there will still have to be leaps of faith by both parties. Neither side can afford to be half-hearted or reluctant to take chances. BASSA will fulfil that role and with your support we intend to lead by example, BA we trust, will play their part too.

Lizanne Malone:
Chairman BASSA 2000

[Tete_de_cuvee]

And your point is?

As noted many times, Walsh’s decision to victimise & bully a huge element of BA’s workforce by initiating a campaign against its own front line team, would result in an enduring significant rift within the company, lasting far longer than the industrial action itself. A schism indeed has caused a large amount of bad blood and detritus, it will continue to do so.

Many BA staff did not wish to take sides in the dispute were left in an invidious position. Would failure to wear the managment’s “I’m backing BA” badge result in being subsequently victimised themselves?

Outcome – a considerable amount of absenteeism with long term sickness and stress, FC having a dire time down route, BA spending millions on bridge building innitiatives. Morale enervated.

The dispute will continue to cost BA dear, but not as large as the near half a BILLION pounds the cargo cartel cost BA.

Staff at Waterside still cannot understand why Cabin Crew were suspended for merely sharing a list of FC working as CC yet there has been no apparent suspension of BA managers who knew of the illegal cartel costing BA far more dearly. Double standards that stick in the craw.

[VintageKrug]

You meant to write detritus [not “detritous” as originally posted].

Some would say you succeeded.

[Hippocampus]

I see some people have still not managed to get out of their foam arm chair of self-pity…

The circulation of the list of VCC was a breach of the Data Protection Act and was intended for use by some as a means of bullying and intimidating VCC. BA has a duty of care to protect its own employees from bullying by BASSA militants and there were some very serious threats made as well as some truly deplorable behaviour (anyone wondering whatever happened to the BASSA forum?).

As for the support for the “Backing BA” campaign, the fact that this was launched and supported right across the airline (without any internal pressure) after BASSA launched its unspeakably callous 12 Strikes Of Christmas campaign answers your question.

[VintageKrug]

Seems BASSA are up to their old tricks once again – it’s pretty difficult for BASSA to take the moral high ground when this image still persists on the Unite website homepage:

http://www.uniteba.com/ESW/Images/walsh_red_eyes.jpg

BASSA > Latest News
IS THE DUST SETTLING?
Jul 25th, 2011 by admin

92% to now.

It is less than a month since we received a pretty overwhelming endorsement from you, our membership, to try and move forward into a new and hopefully better era.

Since the result was announced our communication has probably been a little more sparse than normal. There is only one reason for that, probably just like you, we all needed a little respite; a little time to think and to come to terms with the fact that our long dispute is over.
Like all disputes this was a hard struggle; it is widely accepted that this was one of the bitterest in modern trade union history, the longest strike ever in British transport and the most divisive conflict since the miners’ dispute.

We all may welcome peace, but it isn’t always as easy to come to terms with. After fighting for so long, peace comes as something of a shock. The battles may be ending but the wounds inflicted during them will take far longer to heal, if in truth they ever will.

We are slowly trying to rebuild our union all over again; the settlement was what the vast majority of people wanted because it would bring about a peace to a weary workforce, but they also want it to be a genuine and lasting peace.

To achieve this, behaviour need to change on both sides, not just BASSA. We will work hard to uphold our part of the bargain but we expect the same commitment from the management side. For them to carry on in the same manner adopted during the dispute is not good enough. There also has to be a genuine change in their approach as well. There have been signs of it but there have also been a worrying return to the injustices of the past.

Justice must be for all, not just some; dual standards lead to resentment, resentment to anger and anger into conflict. We all have a responsibility to ensure that that does not happen.

Mr Williams’ personal approach is a welcome and refreshing change but that change in approach needs to filter down throughout the rest of the management community if it is to be successful.

Too many still appear far too happy to continue in the disastrous manner of his predecessor. That is something that needs to change and to change quickly.

Since our dispute ended we have had some positives and some negatives. Staff travel has been restored in full and with full seniority; our union offices have opened for the first time in two years. In August, our meeting structures will resume and allow us to begin to represent your views once again.

For the first time in a long time, some sensible, common sense management decisions are beginning to creep in. On the other hand, a significant number of pilots and individual managers seem to believe it to be acceptable to bully and intimidate crew for voicing an opinion and we still remain a very divided community. The VCCs are going but they have not gone yet, the transition into the Customer Experience Programme will take a period of time and that is to be expected, but as long as VCCs remain onboard it will only serve as a constant reminder of the dispute.

The biggest and most disappointing reminder that some people have not put the dispute behind them was the sacking of popular Worldwide CSD, PXXXXX XXXXXX. XXXXX did no more than many others; he had an opinion and he voiced it on a private members only forum.

He was pursued and investigated, as others have also been, by an overly eager Asset Protection Department, who continue to behave as though British Airways were their own personal fiefdom. That a little bit of mercy and compassion could not have been shown, or an understanding that opinions and feelings were running high during the dispute, is extremely disappointing.

In Mr Williams’ own words, people say things in anger when feelings are running high, but if the “war” has truly ended then it is time that everyone accepted that and the cease fire is honoured and an amnesty granted. We hope that common sense prevails during XXXX’s appeal process.

So far some progress and some set-backs, in reality this is to be expected after such a difficult period of time. We remain on course and committed; we know the desire of the senior leadership within British Airways is equally strong and so we are confident that things will evolve for the better, however their conviction needs to be instilled pretty quickly into the managers below them who do not share their enthusiasm for change.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

Vintage Krug

The image you link to is not from the BASSA website, it is the CC89 site.

What link is there between the image and the newsletter you reproduce?

[Binman62]

Have to say this is just boring now and I have no idea why it keeps being dragged up other that to vent individuals own political and philosophical positions.

The dispute is over, there is little risk of a strike any time soon, and the TU and BA have kissed and made up.

The peace may be similar to that at Panmunjon and thus occasional skirmishes and the odd shot across the bows can be expected.

The offer from the TU however looked like an excellent bridge building exercise and the lady should be complimented for it. That she was as yet, unable to take some of the crew with her is disappointing but this dispute will take a long time to recover from.

Move on please.

[CallMeIshmael]

VK “Some would say you succeeded”
– Using the plural again Krug, remember your etiquette using a plural as the royal “We” doesn’t apply to you – on this planet.

Continue with your medication to surpress the delusions of grandeur. Viewing yourself as both BA’s PR machine as well as Royal may indicate a schizophrenic bias requiring even more medication, this is best avoided.

By the way – multiple aliases do not count as some

Just because a member of cabin crew didn’t give you a full set of colouring crayons 3 years ago, doesn’t give you licence to be tedious and boorish. Time to get over yourself VK and move on.

[rferguson]

Hippocampus on the subject of data protection it does disturb me that someone who is obviously not a bassa member has copied and pasted news items from the bassa members website that requires a login and password. The copied news articles actually state ‘Please note: This message should not be copied, circulated or published without the express prior agreement of BASSA’.

[Author]

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