The rhetoric and output from the Kempton Park meeting could have been scripted in advance (and was on this forum). So what was the point of wasting so much subscription money on the meeting? What have they achieved?
Please don't tell me they now have a mandate to say "NO" to the company, as 2000 militants out of 14,000, while statistically significant, is not representative.
I feel sorry for poor people at ACAS.
My 2 pence, for what its worth, is the company needs to drag the terms and conditions of the cabin crew into at least the 1990s, 2000s is preferable. Stop all of this consulting on disruption and begging to hand out hot towels rubbish that makes BA into a laughing stock. All the other departments have contributed a huge amount since the BEP back in 1999/2000, it's now BASSA's turn. Deal with it!
"The union Unite said it was prepared to consider a two-year freeze on pay."
Prepared to consider? BASSA suggested it in the first place.
"Unite claimed BA wanted to introduce a new "starter rate" of £11.000, but said this would lead to a two-tier workforce."
New entrant salary under present terms and conditions is £10.982. We also already have several tier workforces like old and new contracts (97).
I agree with Crash and Burn that only some 2000 was present at the meeting which is equivalent to around 14% of the entire workforce. Not really that much.
I agree with Crash and Burn that only some 2000 was present at the meeting which is equivalent to around 14% of the entire workforce. Not really that much.
Maybe I am wrong but I thought B.A. were running an operation today.
At least they were trying to! They also tried to run an operation over the weekend but had to canx flights because of crew going sick for different reasons.
They also tried to run an operation over the weekend but had to canx flights because of crew going sick for different reasons.
Take your pick of reasons as apparently this happens every year on the first weekend of July,
London Pride
Lions test
Wimbledon final
Henley Regatta
Madonna concert
Take That concert
Sunshine Sickness!
From CC News, last year that BA plan on approx 550 absentees on a normal day (no shows, sick, maternity etc). Over peak times such as this, they see in excess of 850
I saw this apt quote from the Economist, June 4th 2009:
Quote:
Blue-collar workers bear much of the responsibility for their own fate. This is particularly true in the car industry, which tended to set the pattern for much of the rest of the American economy. Trade unions frequently hampered their industries with rules that blocked more flexible and productivity-boosting manufacturing techniques (the United Auto Workers’ book of work rules ran to 5,000 pages). They also imposed unsustainable costs on their industries. In 1970 400,000 car workers—one in every 200 workers in America—went on strike for two months in order to wring job-destroying concessions out of GM. John Updike’s Harry Angstrom passed a hard verdict on this sort of self-indulgence in “Rabbit is Rich”: “Seems funny to say it, but I’m glad I lived when I did. These kids coming up, they’ll be living on table scraps. We had the meal.”
Does anyone know if there are even any more meetings between BASSA and BA scheduled ?
Correct me if I'm wrong (sure someone will) but I get the impression it was the non BASSA unions/staff that were close to agreement and ACAS were called to iron out the creases with those negotiations. Hence the "may" statement by BA.
Not sure BASSA will get offered another bite of the apple to even ask ACAS if there is a worm in it first.
"At least they were trying to! They also tried to run an operation over the weekend but had to canx flights because of crew going sick for different reasons"
Yep, BA215 BOS was cancelled due lack of Crew. Social sickness apparently...
Oh my heart bleeds come down to the real world 10 days off a month think yourself lucky dear. My husband is a funeral director and can get called out up to three times in a night but still manages to do a full days work without a day off before hand. The way i see it is you have been milking the system for too long and now that times are hard and things need to be changed you go crying to the Union. To quote my father If you don't like the job get another. I am flying with BA on the 27th July and god help you lot if you ruin my holiday by your stupidity. I suggest that anyone who goes on strike gets the sack that will sort out the man from the boys.
The BA179 LHR-JFK/BA182 JFK-LHR was also cancelled due lack of crew. Regardless of booked loads we are a scheduled airline and should run services based on said schedule. Just because the BA215 load was poor doesn't mean the inbound load was the same. One last point, don't forget the freight, regularly we load 10-15 Tonnes of freight on these flights (which happens to pay quite well).
Bongodog, instead of spouting off without turning on the old brain, I suggest you read the thread before posting again.
Nuigini being one of the posters who consistently has pleaded for BASSA to take a reality check, for BA CC to negotiate in a manner consistent with the current world wide economic crisis & downturn in pax loads on most/all airlines.
He/she is the last person deserving your venomous nonsense.
As to your husband´s line of work; good for him. A sensitive trade that requires great tact and dedication. (why not take a leaf out of his book on the tact front?). His working hours are no doubt as described by you, and quoting your father, he could change trades if he were so inclined. On the whole, your husband´s job, however arduous and praiseworthy, is utterly irrelevant to this thread.
Oh and Bongodog, like your holiday, our family holiday trip celebrating my parents 50th wedding anniversary is booked with BA, and I am becoming rather anxious about it.
Unlike you, I don´t think that threatening people on an anonymous internet forum is the way to deal with that anxiety.
Suggest you take a deep breath, remember your manners and realize that PPRuNe has and enforces certain minimum standards for on-line behaviour and output.
All this talk about sickness, does BA not have an effective attendance management programme?
Instead of paying people more money for a job they are already being paid to do,
Keep records, arrange meeting, if a pattern emerges and no improvement then get rid, that would solve the required staff reduction.
Well guess it was no surprise that Unite/Bassa and its members would reject the proposal put forward by BA at the meeting held today. I think this was a foregone conclusion even before the meeting took place! As I read through the story on the BB news website as well as being an avid follower of all the posts on here and alot of the other "facts" that have been published regarding both proposals how much is fact and how much is fiction. So many varying figures it almost hard to see through the "smoke" what is actually going on. A couple of examples.....
1) The number of redundancies/job cuts ranging from 2000 to 5000 depending on who is "speaking.... Ironic though that with the initial 2000 job cuts required over 3000 BA staff/crew showed interest in voluntary redundancy!!
2) Unite/Bassa proposal talked about saving around £173 million. This is now between £100m and £130m. That seems to be a big difference even for someone without a maths degree or a calculator. Worst case scenario how can the savings suddenly be down by £73million. Doesn't really add up.
3) 2000 cabin crew vote to dismiss the BA proposal. I wonder what the other 12,000 think!. Guess their views don't count.
4) How many of those people that voted to dismiss the proposal have the most to lose?
I write this not as an employee of British Airways or a member of Unite/Bassa but as someone whose partner works for BA, who has a number of friends working for BA and someone who has spent the past few months listening to speculation, rumour, scare mongering all of which serves no purpose whatsoever. Times are hard for everyone, everywhere in the world. A whole variety of businesses are cutting costs, cutting staff, finding ways to save money. Not all of them are popular. Nothing wrong with an element of flexibility and compromise. After all what is the better outcome - keeping a job (after FAIR and JUST compromise or no job? I can already hear the comments that this post may trigger. One only has to visit other discussion forums run by both BA and Unite/Bassa to see the strength of feeling on this topic. I hope for everyone’s sake a mutually agreeable solution can be found but it does take give and take on BOTH sides.
I am flying with BA on the 27th July and god help you lot if you ruin my holiday by your stupidity. I suggest that anyone who goes on strike gets the sack that will sort out the man from the boys.
What a disgusting, selfish and totally ignorant thing to say to a group of dedicated employees who sacrifice so much in their personal lives to continue doing their job. Only the uneducated seem to spout remarks of "if you dont like it get another job"!
Well dear, I hope with tact like that you dont work too much with your husband!
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