[Anonymous]

[Bullfrog]

Hopefully matters are well settled. An update would be appreciated.

[VintageKrug]

There is no formal settlement as yet.

But from a passenger perspective there is minimal risk of another strike being called, and if it is called no longhaul flights will be disrupted at all.

BASSA (the cabin crew union) is losing supporters (from 11,000 in 2009 it had just 9,279 before they stopped publishing figures last month).

Unite, the parent union, is unable to fund further strikes, and the legal protection period for strikes has now expired, meaning BA could legally dismiss anyone who withdraws their labour.

Only 25% of cabin crew voted to reject BA’s most recent offer; BA has hired over 1,000 new “Mixed Fleet” crew who would be unlikely to support industrial action, and other BA volunteer employees now numbering several thousand have been trained to keep the fleet flying.

In my view the dispute is effectively over; any threat of a strike would be dud as it simply would not have much (if any) effect on day to day operations, and BA has already instigated the changes it wanted (one less crew member per aircraft) and reaped the £60m per year savings it originally sought.

Case closed.

[Hippocampus]

As VK says, the chances of any further strikes are very low. The fundamental problem is that to ensure that any strikers are protected from being dismissed for striking, any new strike mandate has to be entirely unrelated to the previous ballot as the 12 week protection period has now expired.

If a new ballot was to be called, I would think it would have been done by now.

There is a Court of Appeal hearing later this month as Unite appealed against its unsuccessful High Court appeal against the changes to crewing levels and a separate High Court action on the withdrawal of staff travel. There may also be action over the deduction of strike pay.

Any further action is likely to be in the courts rather than by way of a strike.

[Bullfrog]

“Thank you for the update”

That must be good news for everyone … passengers, shareholders, BA team players ie staff, Management & Directors.

[carrotcake]

Hello all
Some info from my friend who works for BA. Unite have started legal proceedings as Hippocampus says. However, a separate action is being lodged by Russell, Jones and Walker, employment law specialists.They are being funded by a group of cabin crew. They are appealing against the removal of staff travel for overseas employees. Thats two law suits proceeding over the run up to Christmas. No news of a new ballot as yet, for strike action, but the dispute is not over. Training is going ahead for the newer fleet ( on less pay) as we speak. Kind regards.

[VintageKrug]

Thanks for that, carrotcake. I wasn’t aware BASSA had hired Russell, Jones & Walker, also known as the ambulance chasers “Claims Direct”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-oHiBI5yWQ&feature=fvw

It’s important to note that the pending law suits are very unlikely to be heard before Christmas. To give you an idea of likely timescales, a similar case brought by BALPA in 2006 is likely to be finalised in 2011. Neither case has any bearing on Industrial Action.

In the unlikely event of a ballot for Industrial Action being called, and that ballot being supported by enough crew to warrant a strike, and then those crew actually striking:

– ALL British Airways longhaul flights will operate as normal

– ALL exLondon City and exGatwick services (shorthaul AND longhaul) will function as normal

– a sizeable proportion of shorthaul will operate exLHR with most exLHR shorthaul destinations being served at least once per day.

[carrotcake]

Hi Vintage,
More news for you.
Looks like both sides are talking. There was a threat for a ballot for strike action over Christmas. This has been postponed while last minute talks are happening this weekend.
Fingers crossed they dont break down.
Russell, Jones and Walker, employment lawyers, are not funded by
Bassa. Bassas lawyers are the same as Unite, O H Parsons.
Russell Jones and Walker are being instructed independently by crew and outside donations. They are not included in the talks.
Kind regards.

[VintageKrug]

Good news, carrotcake.

Though to be clear, BASSA isn’t talking to anyone; the negotiations are between Unite and BA Management directly.

Let’s hope Unite reach a settlement shortly, and are able to impose this on to BASSA and get agreement to end the threat of a Ballot or IA. Plenty of bigger fish to fry for them in the coming months, and this needs to be sorted before the 20 October Government Statement.

[Bucksnet]

The union’s normal websites have been taken down and replaced with their XXXX campaign. X being the roman numeral for 10 and an announcement that was due at 10am today, 10/10/10.

Their quote “at 10am on the 10th day of the 10th month, a day that symbolically marks your sacrifice” is something that I find quite distasteful. It of course refers to the end of WW1 on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month(1918). The 2 things are in no way comparable.

[sammy2323]

Out of the BA crews on strike BA included in those coming to work all the flight inbound into the uk, union rules do not allow crews to strike while away from base, they also included people on long term sick who did not go on strike, they included international crews who are not governed by a union so when all of those are taken out of the equation 74% of crew were on strike, those who went to work were blackmailed by losing their staff travel should they not operate their trips, the ones who did the right thing to fight the Willie Walsh bully and his team of assasins will lose so much more in this fight….Iberia will not tolerate such behaviour from a CEO and when they go out on strike they all stick together, they have been watching the BA cabin crew strike carefully and know if we lose they will be next….

[JohnPhelanAustralia]

Sammy, my advice to you is that, if you are unhappy in your position at BA, then you should resign and find a job elsewhere. Life is too short to be doing a job you don’t like! And as a passenger, I don’t really want to have crewmembers around me who don’t want to be there!

[VintageKrug]

Unite will overrule BASSA and propose a settlement to members likely this week.

Any strike threat is toothless, as BA has plenty of volunteer and Mixed Fleet crew to run all longhaul services from LHR.

I would remind some posters that unlike the BASSA Branch Secretary, Willie Walsh has not bullied cabin crew. The BASSA Branch Secretary was hauled in to spend several hours speaking to the Police in relation to his bullying activities.

If you think WW blackmailed cabin crew over staff travel, then sue him for blackmail. WW has even offered staff travel back to conclude the dipute; BASSA refused.

Check out the latest statement on the BASSA homepage, second para down; it doesn’t even make sense:

http://www.bassa.co.uk

That is the level of amateurish the BASSA leadership demonstrate; it is such a shame hard working and sometimes excellent BA cabin crew have been led down the garden path by this dysfunctional and incompetent Union Branch.

Time for Unite to assert itself, and bring this troublesome branch to heel. Losing about 20% of its membership means BASSA is on track to be derecognised by BA in a year or so; Unite must step in to sort this out otherwise it will lose the valuable income it receives from BASSA.

[pussycat]

I would just like to return to the original question at the top of this discussion.

What is the latest on the BA staff dispute?

It would appear obvious to me that this dispute is far from settled, and although VintageKrug obviously has some insider knowledge of this dispute, just looking at his history of posting tells me that he sees his role in life as being that of “bigging up” BA and allaying peoples fears of further disruption. (whether this is a paid employment or not)
I don’t think we will ever know exactly the effects of previous bouts of industrial action, even with Mr Walsh’s army of volunteers, some disruption is inevitable.

I also have quite a major moral dilemma. Regardless of whether we agree with those cabin crew who choose to go on strike, there were an awfull lot of them who claimed to be fighting for their livelyhood, and my main memory is of pictures in the media of them wearing gags because they claimed they were not allowed to speak about why they were striking for fear of reprisals from BA. So it is unlikely that we have the full story.

So, now we have Mr Walsh and his volunteers who will work while those crew are on the picket line “fighting for their livelihoods” as they claim. So I cannot find it in my heart to support those “volunteers”, and infact I find it to be morally repugnant that these people have “volunteered” because I’m willing to bet they have about as much knowledge about the cause of this dispute as we do. Perhaps, they would just like a jolly little trip to do some shopping in New York. I don’t think I want to be served by people with such low morals.
Either way, with the moral dilemma, and the inevitable disruption caused by industrial action, I will be stearing clear of BA until I believe that the dispute has been settled in a dignified manner.

[VintageKrug]

The dispute is with BASSA, and its militant leadership, not with Cabin Crew en masse.

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