Hi guys,
Believe it or not (and I accept that the default setting might not be to believe it in these times of strife) but per capita we're being asked to save more than twice the amount that each individual CC member is being asked to save. We've actually been asked to save £39 million over 2 years which, when divided by a smidge over 3000 pilots works out a lot more per head than IFCE have been approached for. Yes, percentages might well be different but it's not as simple as BASSA would wish to paint it for you guys. Union representation is important (especially in a sprawling, immovable monolith such as BA) but it's genuinely hurtful when another lie is spat at us in the flight deck in order to whip up the troops. The reps aren't there to deal with the fallout of these untruths and CRM spirals into nothingness. Oh, and by the way, we didn't nick the pension of the CC, BALPA found the NI loophole that helped preserve NAPS in much better health (BASSA failing to turn up to a number of meetings) and we didn't precipitate the loss of the 30 yr ticket. That was on BA's radar from the get-go of the ST2009 negotiations. The fact it appears to suit BASSA's agenda to badmouth all around is, as far as I can tell, as much a part of the historical fabric of BA as is the inability of management to meaningfully engage staff.
Anyone who thinks HMG won't let the airline founder in the current environment may have an unpleasant shock coming. They've emptied the purse rescuing the banks and airlines aren't that vital to the fundamental economic infrastructure in the UK in the same way. All the carriers would easily soak up the loss. It'd just be a bonanza time for LH/AF/KLM/UA etc etc as their routes in and out of LHR/LGW/LCY/MAN/ etc etc suddenly had the load factors we're all praying for right now.
Oh, and in case anyone thinks this is the spiel of a BA pilot who is enjoying some malevolent schadenfreude at the upcoming melee, I can assure you it's not. My household will suffer greatly in the near future if BA get exactly what they want. Between my partner and I we're going to lose a great deal of money thanks to WW/IFCE/Flt Ops desire to hammer our T and Cs. But I don't believe for a moment that the bellicose untruths that BASSA spit out can take away from the fact that the world is seriously ill at the moment and sticking our collective fingers in our ears and hoping it's all going to go away will do any good.
It's more than feasible that the airline could collapse and HMG wouldn't, couldn't and don't need to do anything about it. We're just not that important. I wish it were otherwise.
Mr B (with a genuinely sorrowful intent, I promise you)