Firstly let me say that NO-ONE among BA cabin crew WANTS to go on strike.
We are all very aware of the impact that industrial action would have on our customers, the company and potentially ourselves in the longer term. The delight (mentioned previously) at the result of the ballot was not delight at the potential for strike action, but at the strength of the message we are able to give Willie Walsh and his team, a point that Kevin has picked up on.
As The unions are having talks Tuesday 16-01-07,I believe that this is a shot across the bows Of WW, to let him know exactly the how the workforce ( including engineering, ground , and pilots ) feel
The Staff have endured a lot in the past few years , to bring BA back into Profit, but have see little in the way of gratitude from the Management, and the latest round of ideas from management have been the straw that might have broken the camels back
The staff know that a strike will end BA, but they are fed up with WW and his predecessors who have not listen to the staff at the front end.
Skymonster of course makes a very good point about communication, and its need to be two sided. You may not be aware that because BA did not like the 12 points that our union wished to discuss all future meetings were cancelled, the reps had their ID’s withdrawn, their office closed and were banned from all BA buildings. The ID’s were later reinstated so that they could continue with flying duties only. BA then issued statements to the press that T&G/BASSA were refusing to talk.
On the subject of pay and conditions, I just want to address the belief that BA cabin crew all earn the equivalent of a small lottery win. You may not be aware that nearly 75% of my colleagues are on what we refer to as ‘new’ contracts which were introduced in 1997. On these contracts the starting salary is a little over £9000 and top pay scale is a little under £15000. This may sound a lot to some of you, but it is only comparable with most of the charter and lo-co airlines. Since BA’s privatisation cabin crew have NEVER asked for a pay rise.
With regard to the ‘old’ contract, when this was offered it’s pay scales were the industry standard, and happily provided by BA. I realise that the industry has changed greatly since then, but I don’t think it is too unreasonable for anyone to want to maintain their standard of living. The changes BA are currently seeking would effectively amount to a reduction in pay and therefore to that standard of living. Most people would, I think, happily accept a pay-cut to help BA if it were a company in crisis, but as the most profitable airline in the world for the last five years clearly it is not, and this is largely due to the changes we have accepted in the past.
We ALL accept that ongoing change is always going to be a necessity within the airline, but not change for the sake of it, and certainly not forced upon us by an aggressive and bullying management. It is that management style is the bottom line with all 12 of the points raised by T&G/BASSA. WW seems to think he can run BA in the style of a latter day Michael O’Leary. I’m afraid his staff beg to differ!
Now that I have bored you all senseless, just one last point. Obviously, there will be people within the company who disagree with others, as quoted from pprune. A ballot result of 96% is unprecidented in union history, the BBCs Newsnight programme stated that high 50 to low 60 percentages is the norm. I personally don’t think that many people can all be wrong.
1L.
PS:
Good luck 1L
Thanks.
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