Nah Correlli, I just dont buy it - you hate us BECAUSE we are in BA. You hate us because we HAVE a FSS. At least we do now! You hate us because, like it or not, you did not join mainline BA.
I saw BA take on a "lets buy everything we can get our hands on policy" at great cost to US the employees - where did the company's historic debt level come from? BA bought, at great expense, cr@p. Deutche BA, Air Liberty, etc etc. It also took over swathes of the UK domestic market it did not operate itself and in doing so took once proud efficient companies and wrecked them with overhead adduced to them from BA's total cost base, and lousy management that destroyed efficiency and morale.
But I as a BA pilot employee who signed a BA contract did not do that. I signed a contract with a FSS deal AND I WILL DEFEND IT, WE ALL WILL, and no, ultimately I dont care what the heck you do or dont think about us. Get this BA - the airline will CEASE TO EXIST if BA close the FSS. The airline will cease to function if they rip-up BIDLINE. That was the contract I signed and by Lord, we are keeping it.
Correlli, if you think you are going to expunge your hatred of us by taking over our jobs - FORGET IT! It WILL NOT HAPPEN, not in your dreams or anyone's reality. Neither the insurers nor the trainers will let it happen.
As to the rest - this industry is just so much cr@p. Wannabe's, dont join. You'll get more respect owning your own trucking firm. BA treats everyone with contempt, and leads us to the point where the sorry thread we see here is played out. I am sick to be a part of it, but that doesn't get rid of my disbelief - hey, guess what Correlli, I hate yer back - all you whining snipers on the fringe. Fight your own damn battle and we'll fight ours. Organise properly within your company and fight it through the CC - surprise yourself with what you may achieve. I dont give a flying you know what what you think of us - this industry has become so much cr@p and your anger is but one more part of the whole sad dung heap. I'm angry too - a career devoted to the farce that BA has become led by a shameless profiteer who stands to make millions from the loss of our pensions - I'll see BA in the dust before that happens, and I am not alone. Bring on the summer of the destruction of the national airline - that will put a smile on your sad face, wont it Correlli. Just you carry on chasing your tail into the dust - or you could quit whining and plan a way out. Why do I think that that is so unlikely? Meanwhile, stop blaming BALPA and BA pilots for actions that BA management took that the average line pilot in BA had no part in.