BA Cabin Crew Vote 96% In Favour Of Strike Action
Jan 21, 2007, 11:13 am
#331
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 11
BA Connect
[QUOTE=ian001;7059200]I can't comment on the specifics of the BACON sale as I don't know the details of what happened internally (did BA invite bids or was it directly approached by Flybe?), but when a company plans to sell a business unit, it is common that very few people in the organisation will know about it, and as far as everyone else is concerned, it is business as usual.
During the deal process the advisers acting for the vendor and the potential acquirer will refer to the deal as Project XXX (ie Project Enhancement, Project Monopole or something like that) and the advisers will not tell any staff they come into contact with during the due diligence process the real reason why they are acting for the vendor or the acquirer.
The deal will normally only be announced to staff and the public at a late stage and of course, it can all fall through at any time during the deal process.
A little update for you on BA Connect. I have spoken to two cabin crew colleagues of mine from the MAN base and they have said that at the moment Flybe are NOT in the process of buying out BA connect. There are a number of issues that have come up and the sale has (for the time) been put off. As for the strike, well there is very bad news for us all, sorry to be the bearer
this is hot of the union press and it is with very deep regret that i have to post this to you all.
The Spirit of British Airways 22nd January 2007
Barely a week ago the branch meeting, held on Monday 15th January, truly was the most symbolic in the history of this union. Crew came along on days off, some came in from trips, some not reporting until the evening. Many went to extraordinary lengths to attend, driving from all parts of the country on their days off. Others hired mini buses to come to the meeting together, from Devon, the Midlands, Manchester, even flying in from Europe, Scotland, France, Spain, you name it they were there.
Why? Because they, like you, care about their future.
For those who were fortunate enough to be able to attend, the effort was worth it! The experience and strength gained on that day will stay with us all for the rest of our lives.
The spontaneous cheers and scenes of jubilation when the 96.1% ballot result was announced, was seen on television around the world and could even be heard in Waterside and Compass Centre!
Those scenes have deliberately been misinterpreted by some, including Willie Walsh;
• No one was cheering the fact that there would be a strike.
• No one was celebrating disruption for our passengers.
• No one was celebrating industrial action.
• No one wants to be to be in our position.
Those scenes of celebration were merely an outpouring of emotion from a frustrated group of decent, hard working, ordinary people that have simply had enough.
Our right to a decent pension after a lifetime’s hard work is being destroyed. We are being forced to come to work when we are genuinely sick out of fear of an uncaring policy. Many suffer through poverty level new entrant pay scales. We have been arrogantly pushed around and treated as a cheap, disposable corporate commodity that can easily be replaced for far too long. Well, not any more.
We are people with dreams and aspirations of our own and those dreams and our future are worth standing up and fighting for.
We now have a voice. A very loud voice. It was the explosive sound of 8000 plus cabin crew who finally saw the light and hope at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.
Cabin Crew are not some radical militants, far from it. Being Cabin Crew is about doing a good job, day in and day out, on the front line of customer services, for a company most of us are still proud to work for. Last Monday, crew finally saw the chance to reclaim the “spirit of this company” from a cynical management that, over time, has hijacked the British Airway ethic, that both we and our customers love and has instead turned it into a bitter, hard faced place to work.
The spontaneity and volume of the crew reaction was not malicious or aggressive – far from it. It was crew rejoicing in the fact that others shared their beliefs.
It is time for our passengers to know that as our aircraft and terminals become shabbier, with poorer quality food, less service, less facilities, equipment breakdown, as our customer contact staff is cut to the bone in every area, there is one exception. The gleaming, opulence of Waterside. Take a look around next time you go, at the waterfalls and buffed chrome and, amidst those thousands of shiny people, we doubt you will see even one customer contact uniform in the entire building.
The founder of McDonald’s once famously said, “take care of the customer and the business will take care of itself”.
Our management’s philosophy appears to be the exact opposite. As the people who actually take care of our customers, whether it’s in the terminal, handling their luggage or serving on the flight, they are being removed, they are being replaced by layer upon layer of faceless managers, that quite frankly wouldn’t know a customer if they fell over one, let alone ever tried to serve one. Apart from their enhanced staff travel we seriously doubt they even realise they work for an airline.
Corporate BA is simply another world, far removed from the reality of taking our customers, in the best possible way, from A to B. Yet it is one that is shaping a future for both British Airways staff and our customers that they may not recognise or want.
We asked for your support in the ballot to give us a strong position at the negotiation table. We emphatically got this. 96.1% is simply incredible and unheard of in trade union history. We sincerely thank you for your support, your faith and your trust.
Our aim was to return to the negotiations in a strong position, to try to secure beneficial change on your behalf. We are saddened to say that in this aim, we have failed. Not through lack of effort or enterprise but because we have a management that simply will not listen.
With your faith in us comes responsibility.
We would not even consider industrial action if there remained even a glimmer of hope of negotiating an acceptable solution. It would be purely a last resort. With regret, we have to announce that we are now at that point.
After 4 days of intense negotiations, British Airways gave us their final position last Friday. It was contained in a lengthy document that had not been written for us, as it was simplistic and deliberately misleading. It was written for public and press consumption. The only thing that they were prepared to move on was our request for a weekend central area bus. We knew at that moment, that this was the end of the road. The management present could barely contain the glee on their faces (Alun Howells actually smirked and continually shook his head in mock disbelief as the Deputy General Secretary of the TGWU outlined our proposals). The overtly aggressive style of their response, clearly indicated that they were not interested in either peace or negotiation.
They were just waiting for the opportunity to try and crush your union and you as a work force with a voice, along with us. They never had any intention of holding meaningful talks, they were not negotiating they were simply delaying.
Our proposals were intended as a compromise to offer a sensible way out of confrontation, for management for once to use their imagination instead of tired dogma, to solve and heal a conflict rather than inflame it even further. Where there is a will there is a way.
We sincerely doubt that the sincerity or realistic cost of our proposals ever made it as far as Willie Walsh, past the jaded cynicism of the level of management that we had to deal with.
To be honest it was always going to be that way. How else could the same managers that have had a 96.1% vote for industrial action justify their own failings? How else could they explain their own mismanagement? It is far easier to blame BASSA and an “unreasonable workforce”, than to admit the truth to our Chief Executive.
FACT-You do not get a vote with that strength of feeling unless something is seriously wrong in the way a department is being run.
IFS Management repeatedly state BASSA will not accept change and yet the greatest irony is that it is they that never change. Creativity and indeed flexibility simply do not exist in their vocabulary. Their frustration stems from the fact that we won’t simply just “do as we are told” and their accusation that BASSA is guilty of “1970s style trade unionism”. We say their style of management also belongs to the 70s, the 1870s!
Modern industrial relations must be as a partnership not as master and servant.
One thing they have underestimated - they are taking this stance because it’s their job, they are being told what to do and say. But for your reps and for you it’s something that we strongly believe in. It’s our lives and our future. There is a big difference.
Our proposals are fair, balanced and in the circumstances not unreasonable or unrealistic. We are happy to share the proposals with you in full, details will be placed on our website in the urgent news updates, entitled - Industrial Action - BASSA Proposals for Settlement and if you are a subscriber to our email news service then this will also have been emailed to you.
They have been costed by a recognised expert in this field, Ed Sabisky, a former financial director for General Motors a man whose financial expertise is widely recognised and whose credibility is beyond question or reproach, even by BA.
We now simply have no other alternative but to ask for your support to take industrial action in a series of 3 day strikes, the first to commence at 0001 on Monday 29th through to 2359 on Wednesday 31st January and then the 5th, 6th and 7th February and then 12th, 13th and 14th February. Please do not report for any duty (at base) between these times. You are taking part in legal industrial action. You do not need to inform BA of your decision, you simply do not report for work.
We of course know that this is an unnerving prospect for us all, but please do not feel alone. Draw on the support of others, talk to each other through our website, phone lines and most of all, if you can, by joining your friends and colleagues on the picket lines or just to help out with cups of tea at either of our two LHR bases at Bedfont Football Club and our temporary office just off the Bath Road. Also at LGW the Premium Lodge, next to the Gatwick Manor and Ramada Hotel at GLA.
Have no doubts, we now have no other alternative to convince the company of our resolve and the legitimacy of our issues than industrial action, negotiation has failed. They don’t believe you will support your union in industrial action, hence their aggressive stance.
For your pension, for your right to go sick, for a fairer salary for new entrants, for career prospects, for respect, for your future, for your family and most of all for YOU, we must now ask for your support. Without it, it is the end for BASSA. We cannot fight these changes alone.
Please do not rely on the bravery of others. We will not get a second chance.
No one wants to take industrial action, least of all BASSA, no one wants to cause anxiety and inconvenience to you and to our passengers or indeed to the reputation of our airline and our colleagues from other areas within BA.
Sometimes in life you have to stand up and be counted for what we all know is right, now is that time!
Thank you
So yes, staff are be deliberately lied to when deals are going on, but there are sound commercial reasons for it.
As for BA acquiring Flybe at some point in the future, things can certainly go round in circles in the world of Mergers & Acquisitions, but I would think that at the moment BA is far more concerned about consolidation amongst the major international players rather than buying an airline that does not directly or indirectly serve the long-haul network at LHR <puts on tin-hat and hides under desk>.[/QUOTE]
During the deal process the advisers acting for the vendor and the potential acquirer will refer to the deal as Project XXX (ie Project Enhancement, Project Monopole or something like that) and the advisers will not tell any staff they come into contact with during the due diligence process the real reason why they are acting for the vendor or the acquirer.
The deal will normally only be announced to staff and the public at a late stage and of course, it can all fall through at any time during the deal process.
A little update for you on BA Connect. I have spoken to two cabin crew colleagues of mine from the MAN base and they have said that at the moment Flybe are NOT in the process of buying out BA connect. There are a number of issues that have come up and the sale has (for the time) been put off. As for the strike, well there is very bad news for us all, sorry to be the bearer
this is hot of the union press and it is with very deep regret that i have to post this to you all.
The Spirit of British Airways 22nd January 2007
Barely a week ago the branch meeting, held on Monday 15th January, truly was the most symbolic in the history of this union. Crew came along on days off, some came in from trips, some not reporting until the evening. Many went to extraordinary lengths to attend, driving from all parts of the country on their days off. Others hired mini buses to come to the meeting together, from Devon, the Midlands, Manchester, even flying in from Europe, Scotland, France, Spain, you name it they were there.
Why? Because they, like you, care about their future.
For those who were fortunate enough to be able to attend, the effort was worth it! The experience and strength gained on that day will stay with us all for the rest of our lives.
The spontaneous cheers and scenes of jubilation when the 96.1% ballot result was announced, was seen on television around the world and could even be heard in Waterside and Compass Centre!
Those scenes have deliberately been misinterpreted by some, including Willie Walsh;
• No one was cheering the fact that there would be a strike.
• No one was celebrating disruption for our passengers.
• No one was celebrating industrial action.
• No one wants to be to be in our position.
Those scenes of celebration were merely an outpouring of emotion from a frustrated group of decent, hard working, ordinary people that have simply had enough.
Our right to a decent pension after a lifetime’s hard work is being destroyed. We are being forced to come to work when we are genuinely sick out of fear of an uncaring policy. Many suffer through poverty level new entrant pay scales. We have been arrogantly pushed around and treated as a cheap, disposable corporate commodity that can easily be replaced for far too long. Well, not any more.
We are people with dreams and aspirations of our own and those dreams and our future are worth standing up and fighting for.
We now have a voice. A very loud voice. It was the explosive sound of 8000 plus cabin crew who finally saw the light and hope at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.
Cabin Crew are not some radical militants, far from it. Being Cabin Crew is about doing a good job, day in and day out, on the front line of customer services, for a company most of us are still proud to work for. Last Monday, crew finally saw the chance to reclaim the “spirit of this company” from a cynical management that, over time, has hijacked the British Airway ethic, that both we and our customers love and has instead turned it into a bitter, hard faced place to work.
The spontaneity and volume of the crew reaction was not malicious or aggressive – far from it. It was crew rejoicing in the fact that others shared their beliefs.
It is time for our passengers to know that as our aircraft and terminals become shabbier, with poorer quality food, less service, less facilities, equipment breakdown, as our customer contact staff is cut to the bone in every area, there is one exception. The gleaming, opulence of Waterside. Take a look around next time you go, at the waterfalls and buffed chrome and, amidst those thousands of shiny people, we doubt you will see even one customer contact uniform in the entire building.
The founder of McDonald’s once famously said, “take care of the customer and the business will take care of itself”.
Our management’s philosophy appears to be the exact opposite. As the people who actually take care of our customers, whether it’s in the terminal, handling their luggage or serving on the flight, they are being removed, they are being replaced by layer upon layer of faceless managers, that quite frankly wouldn’t know a customer if they fell over one, let alone ever tried to serve one. Apart from their enhanced staff travel we seriously doubt they even realise they work for an airline.
Corporate BA is simply another world, far removed from the reality of taking our customers, in the best possible way, from A to B. Yet it is one that is shaping a future for both British Airways staff and our customers that they may not recognise or want.
We asked for your support in the ballot to give us a strong position at the negotiation table. We emphatically got this. 96.1% is simply incredible and unheard of in trade union history. We sincerely thank you for your support, your faith and your trust.
Our aim was to return to the negotiations in a strong position, to try to secure beneficial change on your behalf. We are saddened to say that in this aim, we have failed. Not through lack of effort or enterprise but because we have a management that simply will not listen.
With your faith in us comes responsibility.
We would not even consider industrial action if there remained even a glimmer of hope of negotiating an acceptable solution. It would be purely a last resort. With regret, we have to announce that we are now at that point.
After 4 days of intense negotiations, British Airways gave us their final position last Friday. It was contained in a lengthy document that had not been written for us, as it was simplistic and deliberately misleading. It was written for public and press consumption. The only thing that they were prepared to move on was our request for a weekend central area bus. We knew at that moment, that this was the end of the road. The management present could barely contain the glee on their faces (Alun Howells actually smirked and continually shook his head in mock disbelief as the Deputy General Secretary of the TGWU outlined our proposals). The overtly aggressive style of their response, clearly indicated that they were not interested in either peace or negotiation.
They were just waiting for the opportunity to try and crush your union and you as a work force with a voice, along with us. They never had any intention of holding meaningful talks, they were not negotiating they were simply delaying.
Our proposals were intended as a compromise to offer a sensible way out of confrontation, for management for once to use their imagination instead of tired dogma, to solve and heal a conflict rather than inflame it even further. Where there is a will there is a way.
We sincerely doubt that the sincerity or realistic cost of our proposals ever made it as far as Willie Walsh, past the jaded cynicism of the level of management that we had to deal with.
To be honest it was always going to be that way. How else could the same managers that have had a 96.1% vote for industrial action justify their own failings? How else could they explain their own mismanagement? It is far easier to blame BASSA and an “unreasonable workforce”, than to admit the truth to our Chief Executive.
FACT-You do not get a vote with that strength of feeling unless something is seriously wrong in the way a department is being run.
IFS Management repeatedly state BASSA will not accept change and yet the greatest irony is that it is they that never change. Creativity and indeed flexibility simply do not exist in their vocabulary. Their frustration stems from the fact that we won’t simply just “do as we are told” and their accusation that BASSA is guilty of “1970s style trade unionism”. We say their style of management also belongs to the 70s, the 1870s!
Modern industrial relations must be as a partnership not as master and servant.
One thing they have underestimated - they are taking this stance because it’s their job, they are being told what to do and say. But for your reps and for you it’s something that we strongly believe in. It’s our lives and our future. There is a big difference.
Our proposals are fair, balanced and in the circumstances not unreasonable or unrealistic. We are happy to share the proposals with you in full, details will be placed on our website in the urgent news updates, entitled - Industrial Action - BASSA Proposals for Settlement and if you are a subscriber to our email news service then this will also have been emailed to you.
They have been costed by a recognised expert in this field, Ed Sabisky, a former financial director for General Motors a man whose financial expertise is widely recognised and whose credibility is beyond question or reproach, even by BA.
We now simply have no other alternative but to ask for your support to take industrial action in a series of 3 day strikes, the first to commence at 0001 on Monday 29th through to 2359 on Wednesday 31st January and then the 5th, 6th and 7th February and then 12th, 13th and 14th February. Please do not report for any duty (at base) between these times. You are taking part in legal industrial action. You do not need to inform BA of your decision, you simply do not report for work.
We of course know that this is an unnerving prospect for us all, but please do not feel alone. Draw on the support of others, talk to each other through our website, phone lines and most of all, if you can, by joining your friends and colleagues on the picket lines or just to help out with cups of tea at either of our two LHR bases at Bedfont Football Club and our temporary office just off the Bath Road. Also at LGW the Premium Lodge, next to the Gatwick Manor and Ramada Hotel at GLA.
Have no doubts, we now have no other alternative to convince the company of our resolve and the legitimacy of our issues than industrial action, negotiation has failed. They don’t believe you will support your union in industrial action, hence their aggressive stance.
For your pension, for your right to go sick, for a fairer salary for new entrants, for career prospects, for respect, for your future, for your family and most of all for YOU, we must now ask for your support. Without it, it is the end for BASSA. We cannot fight these changes alone.
Please do not rely on the bravery of others. We will not get a second chance.
No one wants to take industrial action, least of all BASSA, no one wants to cause anxiety and inconvenience to you and to our passengers or indeed to the reputation of our airline and our colleagues from other areas within BA.
Sometimes in life you have to stand up and be counted for what we all know is right, now is that time!
Thank you
So yes, staff are be deliberately lied to when deals are going on, but there are sound commercial reasons for it.
As for BA acquiring Flybe at some point in the future, things can certainly go round in circles in the world of Mergers & Acquisitions, but I would think that at the moment BA is far more concerned about consolidation amongst the major international players rather than buying an airline that does not directly or indirectly serve the long-haul network at LHR <puts on tin-hat and hides under desk>.[/QUOTE]
Jan 21, 2007, 11:24 am
#333
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: RBKC
Programs: MUCCI Diamante- that's all that matters
Posts: 546
Thanks globesurfer for the update. This is going to cripple BA. Bad news. I'm glad my flights to DXB are safe, though. Bad news for BA, surely they will want to do anything to avoid 9 days of mayhem.
Jan 21, 2007, 11:47 am
#334
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Programs: Aeroplan, BA Blue, Flying Blue
Posts: 97
Although it looks like my flights YYZ-LHR-LCA and back on Feb 1/2 and 10/11 are safe, I hope mgmt sees the light and settles this quickly. The last thing the airline needs is yet more flight disruptions.
I've never been a huge fan of industrial action as it usually just aggravates the loyal customers and doesn't result in much real change, I do agree with the statements that BA does need yet more "enhancements" in the constant struggle for cost-cutting. I choose to fly BA because it still offers a better level of service than AC or the US carriers - but if things keep going the way they are, I don't know how much longer that will last.
I've never been a huge fan of industrial action as it usually just aggravates the loyal customers and doesn't result in much real change, I do agree with the statements that BA does need yet more "enhancements" in the constant struggle for cost-cutting. I choose to fly BA because it still offers a better level of service than AC or the US carriers - but if things keep going the way they are, I don't know how much longer that will last.
Jan 21, 2007, 11:50 am
#335
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Midland, by way of Odessa, by way of El Paso, by way of Abuja, by way of Mexico City, by way of...
Programs: Aadvantage Exec Plat, AmEx Platinum, Hilton Diamond, United Club, Admiral's Club
Posts: 316
But why would it stop at 9 days? If management has not granted a more favorable proposal by then, would BASSA strike again or just take whatever the offer was?
Jan 21, 2007, 11:58 am
#336
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 11
it's goning to happen
Im still in shock at the moment - judging from the union letter, BA don't think that there will be much support for this strike and that most people will show up for work, how wrong they are!!!! Again, this shows just how "out of tune" they are with us.
Without a doubt this will hurt the airline and its employees very badly, I think that the second round of strikes will be a crunch time for BA and they will have to listen as if during the Gate Gourment incident in 2005 the daily loss was £50 million a day, well we can do the maths and work out that the impact will be greater as the whole network will grind to a halt, not just LHR, so maybe at a very conservative estimate £60-70 Million a day multiplied by 3 will be devastating, not to mention that it'll take weeks to get things back to normal afterwards.
Please, again let me apologise to all of you who will be disrupted as a result of this strike, I understand that many of you are successful business men and women who understand the BA point of view but also, I ask that you would try to see the cabin crew point of view in this dispute and try to have a balanced and fair view in this most unfortunate event. Many thanks, in advance for your patience.
Without a doubt this will hurt the airline and its employees very badly, I think that the second round of strikes will be a crunch time for BA and they will have to listen as if during the Gate Gourment incident in 2005 the daily loss was £50 million a day, well we can do the maths and work out that the impact will be greater as the whole network will grind to a halt, not just LHR, so maybe at a very conservative estimate £60-70 Million a day multiplied by 3 will be devastating, not to mention that it'll take weeks to get things back to normal afterwards.
Please, again let me apologise to all of you who will be disrupted as a result of this strike, I understand that many of you are successful business men and women who understand the BA point of view but also, I ask that you would try to see the cabin crew point of view in this dispute and try to have a balanced and fair view in this most unfortunate event. Many thanks, in advance for your patience.
Jan 21, 2007, 12:03 pm
#337
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: back to my roots in Scotland!
Programs: Tamsin - what else is there to say?
Posts: 47,843
globesurfer - thanks for your update which confirmed the additional dates 
There's a fair few cabin crew on here, who have provided help and advice to us all on many occasions, at some risk to themselves... you guys have a difficult decision to make in the next few days, and I don't envy you for it. I at least will still continue to value and respect the crew on here, no matter what they may decide to do on this - at the end of the day, you can only do what you feel is best for you.
There's a fair few cabin crew on here, who have provided help and advice to us all on many occasions, at some risk to themselves... you guys have a difficult decision to make in the next few days, and I don't envy you for it. I at least will still continue to value and respect the crew on here, no matter what they may decide to do on this - at the end of the day, you can only do what you feel is best for you.
Jan 21, 2007, 12:38 pm
#338
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: UK
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 736
Hmm... our flight out to YVR in F on Jan 27 is OK, but the return on Feb 7 is now threatened. I phoned BA to see what my options were - they have no commercial policy yet (not sure why, as strike is hardly out of the blue), but should by tomorrow. The woman I spoke to confirmed that they will rebook affected award tickets according to availability in revenue classes, which is what I was after.
Although I note that the strike is not about the issues which affect me most as a passenger (such as baggage policy, seating, assorted nickel and diming), I recognise that the management is also applying its arrogant attitude to staff, and do support this action. Of course, it helps that I've already requalified for Gold and will be a *A flyer for the next couple of months...
Although I note that the strike is not about the issues which affect me most as a passenger (such as baggage policy, seating, assorted nickel and diming), I recognise that the management is also applying its arrogant attitude to staff, and do support this action. Of course, it helps that I've already requalified for Gold and will be a *A flyer for the next couple of months...
Jan 21, 2007, 12:47 pm
#339
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Toronto (YYZ)
Posts: 6,279
Just logged on to British Airways Canada page:
We are extremely disappointed that the T&G cabin crew union has walked away from negotiations and issued a direct threat to the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of our customers.
If the union goes ahead with its proposed series of three 72-hour strikes starting on Monday January 29, it will cause massive disruption for customers, and needless damage to our business at a time when we are facing more intense competition than ever before.
We remain committed to the search for a peaceful outcome to this dispute and we urge the union to withdraw this totally unjustified strike threat to give negotiations the fullest chance of success.
Despite its public rhetoric, the union in private remains resolute in its refusal to talk with us about any degree of change for our cabin crew.
We place immense value on the contribution of our cabin crew, which is why we provide them with terms and conditions that are among the very best in the industry.
We have not imposed changes and we do not seek to. We want to negotiate new ways of working with cabin crew, as we have with other staff groups within British Airways, to help put the airline in better shape to succeed in a dynamic, highly competitive global industry.
We have recognised the genuine concerns of our cabin crew about our absence management policy and, at the T&G's request, have tabled serious proposals to change the way the policy is applied to cabin crew.
However in our discussions so far, the T&G has hardened its stance. Its latest position includes a demand for a significant pay increase and a return to the excessive levels of absence experienced before our absence management policy was introduced.
The union is now asking for a relaxation of the policy, which would see average cabin crew absence rise back toward 22 days a year.
The union's demand for revised pay scales would involve rises of up to 18 per cent.
Additional demands on a range of other issues from the T&G would increase the company's annual cost by £37 million through extra staffing and allowances and seriously undermine our competitiveness.
The T&G should pause to reflect before leading our cabin crew down a path of confrontation that can serve no positive purpose.
We recognise that this is a worrying time for our customers and from today (Sunday January 21) we will allow customers booked to fly with us between Monday January 29 and Friday February 16 to change the date of their trip.
We are extremely disappointed that the T&G cabin crew union has walked away from negotiations and issued a direct threat to the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of our customers.
If the union goes ahead with its proposed series of three 72-hour strikes starting on Monday January 29, it will cause massive disruption for customers, and needless damage to our business at a time when we are facing more intense competition than ever before.
We remain committed to the search for a peaceful outcome to this dispute and we urge the union to withdraw this totally unjustified strike threat to give negotiations the fullest chance of success.
Despite its public rhetoric, the union in private remains resolute in its refusal to talk with us about any degree of change for our cabin crew.
We place immense value on the contribution of our cabin crew, which is why we provide them with terms and conditions that are among the very best in the industry.
We have not imposed changes and we do not seek to. We want to negotiate new ways of working with cabin crew, as we have with other staff groups within British Airways, to help put the airline in better shape to succeed in a dynamic, highly competitive global industry.
We have recognised the genuine concerns of our cabin crew about our absence management policy and, at the T&G's request, have tabled serious proposals to change the way the policy is applied to cabin crew.
However in our discussions so far, the T&G has hardened its stance. Its latest position includes a demand for a significant pay increase and a return to the excessive levels of absence experienced before our absence management policy was introduced.
The union is now asking for a relaxation of the policy, which would see average cabin crew absence rise back toward 22 days a year.
The union's demand for revised pay scales would involve rises of up to 18 per cent.
Additional demands on a range of other issues from the T&G would increase the company's annual cost by £37 million through extra staffing and allowances and seriously undermine our competitiveness.
The T&G should pause to reflect before leading our cabin crew down a path of confrontation that can serve no positive purpose.
We recognise that this is a worrying time for our customers and from today (Sunday January 21) we will allow customers booked to fly with us between Monday January 29 and Friday February 16 to change the date of their trip.
Jan 21, 2007, 12:58 pm
#340
Moderator, Hilton Honors
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: on a short leash
Programs: some
Posts: 71,422
If the strike goes ahead I would not assume that your travel will be unaffected. Will take days to deal with the aftermath.
Jan 21, 2007, 1:33 pm
#341
Moderator: GLBT travelers, India-based Airlines and India; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Asia
Programs: Yes!
Posts: 15,512
Jan 21, 2007, 1:56 pm
#342
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 11
take it with a pinch of salt
Just logged on to British Airways Canada page:
We are extremely disappointed that the T&G cabin crew union has walked away from negotiations and issued a direct threat to the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of our customers.
If the union goes ahead with its proposed series of three 72-hour strikes starting on Monday January 29, it will cause massive disruption for customers, and needless damage to our business at a time when we are facing more intense competition than ever before.
We remain committed to the search for a peaceful outcome to this dispute and we urge the union to withdraw this totally unjustified strike threat to give negotiations the fullest chance of success.
Despite its public rhetoric, the union in private remains resolute in its refusal to talk with us about any degree of change for our cabin crew.
We place immense value on the contribution of our cabin crew, which is why we provide them with terms and conditions that are among the very best in the industry.
We have not imposed changes and we do not seek to. We want to negotiate new ways of working with cabin crew, as we have with other staff groups within British Airways, to help put the airline in better shape to succeed in a dynamic, highly competitive global industry.
We have recognised the genuine concerns of our cabin crew about our absence management policy and, at the T&G's request, have tabled serious proposals to change the way the policy is applied to cabin crew.
However in our discussions so far, the T&G has hardened its stance. Its latest position includes a demand for a significant pay increase and a return to the excessive levels of absence experienced before our absence management policy was introduced.
The union is now asking for a relaxation of the policy, which would see average cabin crew absence rise back toward 22 days a year.
The union's demand for revised pay scales would involve rises of up to 18 per cent.
Additional demands on a range of other issues from the T&G would increase the company's annual cost by £37 million through extra staffing and allowances and seriously undermine our competitiveness.
The T&G should pause to reflect before leading our cabin crew down a path of confrontation that can serve no positive purpose.
We recognise that this is a worrying time for our customers and from today (Sunday January 21) we will allow customers booked to fly with us between Monday January 29 and Friday February 16 to change the date of their trip.
We are extremely disappointed that the T&G cabin crew union has walked away from negotiations and issued a direct threat to the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of our customers.
If the union goes ahead with its proposed series of three 72-hour strikes starting on Monday January 29, it will cause massive disruption for customers, and needless damage to our business at a time when we are facing more intense competition than ever before.
We remain committed to the search for a peaceful outcome to this dispute and we urge the union to withdraw this totally unjustified strike threat to give negotiations the fullest chance of success.
Despite its public rhetoric, the union in private remains resolute in its refusal to talk with us about any degree of change for our cabin crew.
We place immense value on the contribution of our cabin crew, which is why we provide them with terms and conditions that are among the very best in the industry.
We have not imposed changes and we do not seek to. We want to negotiate new ways of working with cabin crew, as we have with other staff groups within British Airways, to help put the airline in better shape to succeed in a dynamic, highly competitive global industry.
We have recognised the genuine concerns of our cabin crew about our absence management policy and, at the T&G's request, have tabled serious proposals to change the way the policy is applied to cabin crew.
However in our discussions so far, the T&G has hardened its stance. Its latest position includes a demand for a significant pay increase and a return to the excessive levels of absence experienced before our absence management policy was introduced.
The union is now asking for a relaxation of the policy, which would see average cabin crew absence rise back toward 22 days a year.
The union's demand for revised pay scales would involve rises of up to 18 per cent.
Additional demands on a range of other issues from the T&G would increase the company's annual cost by £37 million through extra staffing and allowances and seriously undermine our competitiveness.
The T&G should pause to reflect before leading our cabin crew down a path of confrontation that can serve no positive purpose.
We recognise that this is a worrying time for our customers and from today (Sunday January 21) we will allow customers booked to fly with us between Monday January 29 and Friday February 16 to change the date of their trip.
http://www.rogepost.com/n/0227101014
The average sickness now in the cabin crew community is at 10 days per annum, still high say BA. However, the times that crew have been taken into hospital or grounded by a doctor in a foreign country has almost doubled, as crew feel intimidated by the absence process imposed by BA, and due to a fear of loosing their job many crew turn up to work "sick", thus infecting their colleagues and other passengers and even injuring themselves further like bursting an eardrum due to having a cold. Yes, it is true that some cabin crew take a sickie, however, BA decide not to target them individually but to tarnish us all with the same brush.
For the record we are not asking to for ANY pay increases, we just want to preserve the pay and conditions that we already have.
Jan 21, 2007, 3:26 pm
#343
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, LH Sen, MUCCI, Junior Jet Club.
Posts: 8,101
Jan 21, 2007, 3:38 pm
#344
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: back to my roots in Scotland!
Programs: Tamsin - what else is there to say?
Posts: 47,843
Sorry Bahrain - if you are in a confined space with 300+ other humans, then there will be increased exposure to viruses and bacteria, just because anyone ill will be breathing it out. They might have improved the filtration, but until the air passes through the filters, it's still going to be carrying various nasty bugs. I bet just about everybody who has travelled regularly has had a bug from it at some time or another. The one I was really aware of had me off work sick for 3.5 weeks as I said elsewhere in a thread.
The reason the aircraft manufacturers had to actually look at the issue was the number of times where people were catching TB on aircraft by travelling with a vector was starting to get embarrassing - among other public health reasons.
The reason the aircraft manufacturers had to actually look at the issue was the number of times where people were catching TB on aircraft by travelling with a vector was starting to get embarrassing - among other public health reasons.
Jan 21, 2007, 4:03 pm
#345
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, LH Sen, MUCCI, Junior Jet Club.
Posts: 8,101
Sorry Bahrain - if you are in a confined space with 300+ other humans, then there will be increased exposure to viruses and bacteria, just because anyone ill will be breathing it out. They might have improved the filtration, but until the air passes through the filters, it's still going to be carrying various nasty bugs.
I think not.