HZ123 I hear what you are saying and definitely agree in part. I am in no way complacent about BA's financial position nor am I particularly militant. I am, however concerned with the 'give give give' stance that BA management seems to take, when it should be more like 'Consultation - then give AND take'. And again I will stress, I am NOT just talking in monetary terms here. There are SO many other areas within Inflight Services that BA can make crews lives a hell of a lot nicer, such as a proper bidding system for longhaul, some mixed flying for short haul and better staff travel concessions for all.
We all know there are areas where BA can be more efficient, whether it be in long or shorthaul and can all make inroads to help make things work better.
BASSA has its good points and bad points, but on the whole it is an effective lobby for cabin crew. Just have a read of the Qantas Cabin Crew forum on the LHR base . Qantas used to have fantastic working conditions and were the envy of the industry. Now they are treated like peasants and are gradually having work taken away from them. And just read what sort of problems, especially in the likes of CRM that it is causing them. A lot of this is due to the ineffectiveness of their union. I don't want to see conditions at BA going down the same path and totally acknowledge that we have to be a bit more flexible and have a bit more of a 'give and take' mentality.
There is however something I will never, ever agree to and would happily strike over......I would never agree to taking a pay cut. I am happy to be more flexible, look at roster patterns etc etc, but a cut in pay, either directly or indirectly (ie by setting up cheap foreign bases a la QF LHR base), no way.
Our competitors, as you mention may have made inroads into our profits. However we are still coming out on top. We are shortly to announce our biggest profit since 1997. And what about our UK competitors? Virgin makes modest profits, but as it is not a public company it can pretty much report what it likes. As for bmi....even with their cheaper than chips cuts, they have only made single digit profits this year after four years of losses. And our competitors across the pond? Well one is bankrupt and the other not far from it.