Originally Posted by
IAMORGAN
I'm furious, and I'm not even crew/employed by BA! You know, all of BA's crew should have gone on strike. WW has USED the goodwill of those crew who went to work to achieve significant changes to work practices. He has basically found out which crew will "take" the new contracts, and which weren't. Those willing to accept these changes have been converted- whilst, yet again, subsidising the active union members.
I would be absolutely fuming over this. It was so un-necessary, BA had "won" the war. Whilst one could say that BA has sent a strong message to the union, I'd say that they should have gone all the way to destroying them.
This is a complete joke. I've had to put up with a bad atmosphere, flights with min crew on strike days etc- all for what -I was led to believevthat by backing BA I could ensure the end to IA, this now leaves the door slightly ajar.
F*ck you BA.
- I don't like being taken for a mug.
Takes a deep breath...
With respect, this is a bit of an over-reaction.
If all crew had walked out, BASSA would have demonstrated that they had the backing of their members, BA would have been hard pressed to run a skeleton service and placed in a situation of either capitulating to a completely ridiculous demand or playing chicken. It's not about BA management 'using' the goodwill of those who worked to achieve change. It's about management seeking savings and staff rallying round to help ensure those changes are made.
The only differences between the latest deal offered and its immediate predecessor are
1) The union agrees to call off any court action associated with the dispute
2) The staff who lost the travel perks will have seniority restored in 2013.
It has never been in BA's interest to 'crush BASSA'. What the dispute has hopefully highlighted to the BASSA membership is how out of touch their executive committee are, not only with the prevailing economy, but also the membership concerns. BASSA will need to undergo radical change if it is to survive as a branch. The alternative is that the membership will dwindle and in time the branch will be derecognised. The militant stance taken and vested self interest displayed during this dispute has already had a significant impact on union membership with cabin crew. By all accounts, the Unite membership has fallen by over 20% in the space of 10 months and is still dropping. At the same time, BA has introduced a new group of cabin crew who as yet do not have union representation. BASSA's behaviour towards these new recruits has almost guaranteed that none would want to join the branch. At one point Unite could claim that 97% of BA cabin crew were Unite members. Now that figure has dropped to under 80%. As more staff are taken on, the numbers will tumble. BA want to be able to deal with unions. They want to be able to deal with Unite in this area. A more open minded BASSA would be welcomed. This is an opportunity for the branch to clear out the dead wood and start afresh. I sincerely hope they take it.