Head of IFCE trying to provide answers on the intranet but seems to be mostly being lambasted. I credit him for at least attempting to explain the thinking behind his proposal. I fear that most people are unwilling to listen.
As usual when no arguments to the contrary are available the usual suspects reply with the 'BASSA bashing' rhetoric. How surprising.
As has already been stated the gross profits pertaining to the 'fuel surcharge' and the 'cargo price fixing' scandals offsets the losses in fines. Whether the two cancel, lose or make profit is something that I feel BA will keep tightly closed. However the fact remains that they were covered in a time when the financial returns allowed them to be absorbed. Time goes on and the world continues to turn.
Oil prices stable? Where did this gem come from? Speculation alone has driven the price of petrol up to in excess of £1.05 a litre again. Fuel hedging could possibly take the edge of any fluctuation for a year or two but, without a viable alternative, the kerosene price will continue to rise. Add to that the prospect of interest rate rises, especially at the business level, and you have a dangerous cocktail for the future.
BA need to offer a stable, consistent product at a price that fits the current and future markets. Due to the overbearing, militant approach of BASSA we have become the summer laughing stock once again as yet another 'summer of discontent' hoves into view.
Even most of the CC have the good grace to feel embarrassed about the situation!
BA have in no way been backed into a corner by setting the bar too high. In fact what sort of statement is that in the first place? BA has expectations, plans and contingency plans. WW is a wily character and would not be playing this game if he wasn't certain of the outcome. The fact BASSA hates him is water off a ducks back to him. He just doesn't care.
The next few days will be very telling. I support our CC in the fullest terms, I do not however support BASSA's view or approach and I feel that many of our CC have been seriously let down by BASSA both now and in the past. Economies change and that change has to be taken into account. BASSA cannot comprehend this and thus takes it position shouting from its 1970's soap box.
If you want to know, as a snapshot, how many might be let down then take the 4000 who applied for VR under the given T's & C's but who may, now, face CR with far worse T's & C's.
Some of the replies to the questions asked of the head if IFCE are quite illuminating. I'd say he's fighting his corner very well. £210 million figure touted by BASSA, purported as being utterly made up, a good explanation of certain savings. At least there's now some meat being added to what has, thus far, been a mildly hysterical discourse.
I'll be crossing that picketline with you. You are far from alone. I believe we need to make savings and like many, I'd go for greater efficiency rather than lower pay. Sadly, the time to negotiate a solution on our terms seems to have passed.
Still, I'd rather have a job on worse terms and conditions than no job at all. I fear many of my striking colleagues will end up with the latter. Good luck to you.
The BASSA forum is vile at the moment. No input from reps at all and some really aggressive posts that are almost certainly bullying and harassment. We've even got idiots calling for a "Sickday on 30th" and "I tell you, I'll blow a slide the day I leave BA" and "I'll see BA go down before I accept these changes". Truly pathetic. Don't these idiots realise that their posts can become part of the evidence to be used against them. It's anonymous now but it sure won't be if things end up in court - ask BALPA re Openskies.
So no-one who wants a reasonable solution posts there, the only voices are those who want to strike and they believe their own hype. FWIW, not ONE of my friends will strike. Not one. They are all disgusted with BASSA. And the support back at Gatwick is almost non-existent. In fact, there's even an air of "they'll get what's been coming to them"
And the best posts on the BASSA forum? "I won't work for this kind of money"
Hmm, but it has been ok for Gatwick crew to work that hard and earn that much??? We reap what we sow.
My wife'll be crossing the picket line with you. Funnily enough she left BASSA because of the vitriol and militancy, a decision she, personally, has never regretted. Good on you for standing up and saying what you think, some people won't brook any dissent from the orthodoxy.
Secondly, and much more pertinent in the macro sense, posters on any forum should be acutely aware of the call a court can make on all communication and information in the event of a legally challenged dispute. All of BALPA's electronic comms were demanded by the opposing side and backed up by court instruction during the OS dispute. Truthfully, if you're anti the BA proposal (or indeed, the BASSA one for that matter), by all means express your displeasure but people should be aware that comments threatening criminal damage, being personally libellous, breaching contract of employment or whatever may well come back to haunt in a very real and meaningful way.
Just to add to Mr Bunkers comments, when you log into any 'chat forum' be it PPRuNe, BASSA or Crew Forum the owners are required to log your IP address with each post you make.
Thus the nightmare scenario of being called forward for comments made on an 'anonymous' forum are all too real as the ISP's are required by law to relinquish the IP address holders account details to the police.
This info is not pointing at anyone just an addition to MrBunkers very good advice above.
BA management have painted themselves into a corner by raising the bar so high, that even the merest concession by them will still leave a massive void. So any further ground given by BA mnagement will be seen as a climbdown and a loss of face by them.
I don't think BA management care as long as they get the savings, I have predicted all along that BA will move some more and BASSA will be able to claim victory, lets hope I am right.
Figures shown to me last week show that if EFLHR were to adopt LGW style rostering(shorthaul matrix) then they would be 35-40% over crewed.
Head if IFCE stating that if BASSA's savings had added up to their claimed amount he'd have taken it. "Why wouldn't I?", to quote him. Surely now would be the time for both sides to put their proposals, with costings into the public domain and allow the affected parties to make informed, adult judgements about them? Headline figures equate to little more than willy waving and benefit about as much.
Beleaguered carrier British Airways was hit by a 14.9% drop in first- and business-class passengers in June compared to the same month last year.
Overall the airline carried almost 5% fewer passengers last month than in June 2008, its latest figures revealed.
A total of 2.93 million people travelled on BA scheduled services in June 2009 - a 4.9% fall on the same month last year.
Passenger numbers in Europe fell 4.3%, but this decline was dwarfed by the 16.8% drop-off in Asia Pacific traffic.
But most alarming is the ongoing slump in premium traffic - a decline that contributed to a £401m loss for the last year.
BA said: "Market conditions continue to be very challenging with trading at levels well below last year.
"However on an underlying basis both premium and non-premium volumes and seat factors have now been stable for more than three months."
The airline cut the equivalent of 2,500 full-time positions between June 2008 and March this year, and is looking to cut 3,700 more in 2009/10.
It announced last month that 2,000 of those posts would be slashed from its cabin crew.
Earlier this week it called in conciliation group Acas to help it in pay negotiations with unions.
It is feared that BA staff will strike next month if a deal cannot be agreed.
Meanwhile, low-fare airline Ryanair announced today that it carried 5.84 million passengers in June 2009 - a 13% increase on its June 2008 total.
Ryanair planes flew 85% full last month compared with 84% full in June 2008.
Now we witness once more idiotic BA management trying to justify their positions by cutting product that will reduce the service to our customers like chocolates withdrawn in First and no hot towels in Club Europe. Some aircraft have run out ot fresh water in flight due to aircraft departing with less than full tanks to save weight.
More damage has been done to the prestige of British Airways by the activities of its CEO and senior managers.
Having read what's posted on Bassa and CF forums it seems that a huge part of Bassa's argument is that BA's management are incompetent. They have little to say on facts but repeatedly spout the fines, T5 and fuel hedging policy as examples of this lack of managerial competence.
PiB does the same above.
Yet what I cannot understand is what relevance this has to Bassa's negotiations on pay and working practices. Is the argument that the managers are so inept that they are not worth negotiating with? Or is the idea to point out these things so that shareholders will say "You know Bassa, you're absolutely right, we'll ditch the Board and the CEO right now"?
We, as employees, have no influence over who manages us, just as we have no influence over the make of aircraft the company buys, we have to work with what we have.
Constantly banging on about your opinions of Walsh himself doesn't serve your argument in any way. Please explain why it's relevant to your negotiations on pay and conditions.
Apparently, due to the drastic mismanagement of the company the Cabin Crew shouldn't need to change with the times. Everybody else should. The reason, oh yes, .... the reason ..... umm can't find one, it's just because BASSA says so.
Carnage: Flights are leaving on sectors up to ten hours duration with 75% fresh water in the tanks. Didn't you know?
Didn't you know PiB?
If you consider it a problem, just pop up to see the pilots and ask if more water can be loaded for that sector. It's rarely a problem as long as there are no weight/performance issues.
See? A problem shared is a problem solved.
Now go and pop that back on the Bassa forum - if you dare!
Linear Mode
