It is apparent that the vote is very finely balanced at the moment. People who initially spoke of voting 'Yes' have now come out firmly against the deal. As you would imagine, there are strong feelings being expressed on all sides and I think a marginal No vote is now possible but unlikely. I received my ballot paper today and voted 'Yes' - albeit with some considerable reservations. My own view is that we are at the end of the road in terms of what can sensibly be achieved without a destructive strike that would ultimately be in nobody's interests. Were that to arise there would be a danger of losing our gains in order to fund the losses from the strike.
Many people are concerned about what could have been rather than what a significant victory BALPA have won. It is true that we really got nothing on the pension but we nonetheless gained 6% this year and 4% next year - a feat which I believe to be the best in the industry this year by some margin. Perhaps even more importantly, we have won this victory without having to disadvantage any other employee group to do so. In the past the FO's lost their loyalty bonus to pay for Captains' pay rises, but now they have won it back without having to give up anything in return. This may not be a perfect deal but right now it is still the best in town.