Kcockayne; I feel that the picture you relate of the staff is optimistic and I make that remark having recently completed 3 decades as a BA staff member. Management in my opinion has tended to be weak for far to long and to this end staff side have in the main been inflexible all to often. Regrettably, BA management have used the current situation as a stick to beat the staff with and simplify future contracts. Presently, there are literally thousands of differing contracts and staff side has always refused to address this problem. Your suggestions of reduced working, part time, unpaid leave etc sadly do not solve the problem which is to many staff. I would anticipate that Check-in and Ramp will be outsourced plus areas of the operation in an effort to retain more of the flying community. Either way it is a sad situation for the staff and the aviation industry but so many other areas of employment will suffer also.