Bex88,
Why would those in the CRS end up in a precarious position? Quite simply, we have a contract. Independent legal advice sought by several/many from differing lawyers/solicitors has been very encouraging suggesting (yes, not 100% I know) that if BA to make people redundant and the order disagrees with our contracts then we would stand in a very strong position. Of the two that I have spoken with, both have copies of our contracts. Arguably if BA was about to go bust then things may be different, but it isn't. It still has a HUGE cashpile available to use and what's more it has masses of offers of cash in terms of funding from multiple reliable sources.
"The alternative is fire and rehire". You can't simply make stuff up like this, it scares people left right and centre and is factually incorrect. It's the type of stuff Mr Cruz or the DFO would send out in order to convice pilots to agree to a bad deal - bully them into it.
The business is not about to go bust (read independent information / companies house info / business analysts opinions) - it is quite simply illegal to fire and rehire in this position.
Our strength lies in our contracts which both we and BA signed when we joined. We are both bound by it and will be subject to significant financial penalty if we don't adhere to it.