It is a very sad state of affairs. I don't post often these days - seeing the state of this thread makes me remember exactly why. Bluepilot, you seem to have summed it all up again. The BRAL pension IS in deficit, albeit by a lot less than the mainline one I think by a factor of about 100. Anyone with half a brain would therefore see one Company, (BA), having two schemes in deficit. Common sense would suggest some linkage there, but Hand Solo and his associates are uninterested in presenting a united front - one almost has the impression that they would like to see BACon go down the tubes, pension and all. I've never seen such arrant rabble-rousing and contempt for one's peers as HandSolo displays, a level of arrogance that makes one glad one is not flying with him - CRM, hah!
Correlli - don't rise to his bait - (bate??) that's what he wants. You made some entirely accurate points, and most of us (at least the guys I fly with) would probably think you have secured the moral high ground; don't waste it by sinking to his gutter level.
Blue is quite right, it's mainly that Scots b@stard in No 11 who is to blame, and unfortunately we cannot go backwards in time to fix it all. To suggest an all out strike a la Solo is equal lunacy, I fear Willie will not back down - he cannot afford to and has nothing to lose - rolling contracts are great aren't they. We all know what will happen, there will be posturing and huffing and puffing on all sides, lots of media coverage, the public will miss a few more flights, probably there will be another manipulated wildcat strike by a non-pilot group which will ground things for a day or two, the pilots will flex their muscles and point out how much worse THEY could make things, McCauslan and Darling will get loads of face time, and in the end the scheme members will have to pay more or lose benefits, (just like everyone else) and management will have to kick a bit more into the pot. The worst and best options rarely if ever happen, there's always a fudge. Hot air from the BA postees is just that - when it comes down to it, turkeys don't actually vote for Christmas!
(Then again, reading HandSolo does make you wonder, but I know he is not actually representative. There are a whole mix of guys in NAPS, and it is certainly not in all their interests to strike over this, depends on the demographics. Solo, being presumably either a very junior Captain, (not CFS qualified I gather) or more likely a senior passed over Effoh, has more to lose - he will not be alone, but he will be far from in a majority. It looks like being an interesting summer's viewing.)