Questions as to why to adopt pragmatism.
Because your views of a post BA1 world are, I fear, too optimistic.
So BA don’t give you what you want, you strike, the airline collapses. Then what? You maybe lose all your pension rights, you get no redundancy, you get some of the current months’ salary owed to you if you’re lucky… and that’s it. Meanwhile, you still gotta pay the mortgage.
BA2 will rise from the ashes, sure, but it won’t be a clone of BA1. It will be smaller, nimbler, and there won’t be jobs for everyone in BA1. I can’t see into a crystal ball, but I would imagine that BA2 would drop some international routes, drop some European routes, maybe exit Gatwick completely, and end up a leaner meaner machine concentrating on high end business. That is the market niche where it delivers best value.
So how many pilots will they need? Don’t know, but with changing terms, a completely re-organised structure, perhaps significantly fewer than are currently on the payroll.
Sure, slots will be free at LHR and there will be a scramble to fill them, the lucky airlines then needing more drivers for the extra buses. And look, there are loads of them suddenly on the market! But if you have a choice between hiring someone from an Asian airline who has plenty of hours on type or an ex BA bloke who was so militant he broke the company, who will you go for? You’ll not be going into the market with shining reputations.
So I reckon in a post apocalyptic world some people will be employed by BA2, but by no means all. Some of you will be out on your backside and looking for new jobs. And don’t think that because you have a BA pedigree that they’ll be falling over themselves to have you. You’ll have just completed a thorough job of smashing the pedigree into tiny pieces.
I’m not saying don’t stand up and be counted. I am saying do it with caution and be careful. Be pragmatic. I don’t know the numbers we’re talking, but Flaps62 says 35% of his pension is at stake. So what if BA compromise at 20%? BA get some of what they want, you get to keep some of what they wanted. Do you go for that?
I can’t answer the question and, as I have said before, you have my sympathy. It’s a difficult question to answer and would surely leave a bad taste in the mouth. That’s where you need to be calm, level headed, unemotional. Just like a bad day at the office. Do not make the mistake of assuming you’ll be unscathed by the collapse of BA. Some of you will certainly be hit badly by the falling wreckage.
Think carefully before you go over the top.