bealine

Since when was a paltry pay rise at less than a quarter of Germany's inflation rate viewed as a "HIKE"?

.........or have the staff told Lufthansa to take a hike?

bealine

This is the million dollar question........perhaps Pucci or loobtastic might know the answer if they talk to crew colleagues!

"Was notice to strike formally given on 15th January or not?"

globesurfer

BA wish to take one purser away from the 747. Our flight crew colleagues have expressed their concerns regarding safety i.e. potentially having two junior or "inexperienced" crew up their. This could also impact on the level of service received by our customers. Recently, BA said that the Purser does not necessarily have to be taken away from the upper deck but may instead be taken away from the main deck cabin or even first class. Legally we must have two crew members on the upper deck, which was quite rightly pointed out in earlier posts, and when this cabin used to be economy (Many many years ago) it did used to be very hard work, in these days the work load is a little easier up there, that ought to be reflected in the level of service that you receive. (from my experience, passengers love flying up there and crew love to work up there as it is a very relaxed environment).

There are other issues that come along with the removal of a purser from an airplane. Many cabin crew would love to go for promotion to purser, thus bettering ourselves financially and giving us something to look forward to and work toward, by removing the purser from a 747 this will impact on our promotion prospects, a certain manager at BA said "I don't believe that cabin crew need any promotion prospects", this was an entry in a minutes meeting, I guess that the success of the Gatwick base will be an important milestone for all cabin crew. A 777 in LGW with 1st club, WT+ and WT has 1 CSD and 1 purser working in WT, additionally, there is a minimum crew complement. If this model works in LGW why not move it to LHR, this will be an argument that BA will use. Ultimately, the (loyal)customers will go elsewhere, I believe that there are quite a few "teething" issues at LGW and, with respect to our crew colleagues in LGW, customer service is not up to our or BA standard. We will wait and see what happens.

:-: Talks are continuing today on resolving all our issues, hopefully some good will come of it, if not, a strike can be called within 7 days, but in a time frame of 28 days from the official ballot result which was Monday 15th January:-:

PS:- as part of the pensions proposal BA have removed our right to a medical pension (which means that if you are seriously hurt through no fault of your own and cannot work as a result of your injuries, BA can sack you and pay you nothing). The pilots at BA have however, retained their medical pension as have the management Hmmmmmmmm One rule for one one rule for another....... Thank you for welcoming me to this forum and I do hope that this information is of interest.

aristoph

Germany's CPI rate is 1.4% so a 2.3% pay rise is a real increase. LH is also looking to hire 3,000 flight attendants and ground personnel this year so LH staff have every reason to feel safe and happy in their jobs.

BAg Lady

Thank you AJLondon, that is my burning question in a nutshell.
I shall have to pass you all my communications for translation in the future
As no answer has yet been forthcoming, it is worth repeating...
Would you mind if I copied and pasted it over onto PPRuNe in the hopes of receiving a response?

Guy Betsy

Yes. But the compulsary retirement age for cabin crew men is 55, and women 45. Beyond that is forced grounding and they're sent off to the backyard.

AJLondon

You're most welcome to do that!

Jenbel

Here's the requirement by trade unions on notification of strike dates

http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/emp...page17836.html

The official notice must give the dates on which strikes are to be called (if not continuous action), and it must be given seven days in advance of the date of the first strike. If dates change, then fresh notice is required. They can't turn round today and tell the company that they are striking on Monday.

I'd also guess that notice has not yet been given, because it would be beneficial for the unions to publicise strike dates as soon as they give notice, to maximise their likely effect on the company - keeps the pressure on the company to reach resolution.

bealine

....not really! With a pedigree from SQ, Singapore Girl is able to find work wasily almost anywhere in Singapore or the Far East!

But we digress!

GUWonder

Thanks for that. So keep those tickets for c. 7 days out and "ka-ching! ka-ching! ka-ching!!!" .... BAEC miles.

More seriously, I'm curious about what is the daily cost of such a strike as the one that may be looming over the horizon.

BAg Lady

Done^ although not necessary now thanks to Jenbel^ ^

At least my flights on Monday should be safe. Now I just have to worry about the 3 flights over the 26th - 28th.

BAg Lady

Figures of between £20 million to £40 million a day were being bandied about on PRuNe, if that is anything to go by.

latitude

Eeeek, I've just caught up to this thread and have recently booked some flights 30/31 Jan and 6/7 Feb. Fingers crossed the talks go well.

AJLondon

I would much prefer to see you in the F lounge, as opposed to the hospitality tent, on the 6th!

BAAZ

?? 2.3% is a quarter of 9.2%. I don't think inflation in Germany is that much? (I thought they had less inflation than us in the UK in fact.)

(There's a separate argument about "personal inflation" where different people experience different inflation depending on where they spend their money, mainly due to the fact that the price of goods has been declining recently whereas the price of services has been increasing, and inflation is a sort of average of the two. But that's OT.)