BAnewboi, I hear what you are saying.
But, imagine at LGW SF if next week BA turned around and said 'we are changing the hourly rate to £1.25 an hour, and taking away two of your days off per month'. Perhaps that put things into perspective. That would be something YOU signed up for that was being changed without any negotiation.
Like you, I also left an airline with crap conditions (bmi) to join BA some years ago.
The reason thousands of crew leave airlines like bmi, virgin, easyjet, ryanair etc to join BA is because of the working environment, pay and terms & conditions. I think I could literally count on one hand the number of crew that have left BA mainline to join any of the afore mentioned airlines.
For once there seemed an airline where terms, conditions and pay were decent. I'm on the new contract, LHR WW and yeah the pay is good but not out of this world. I too, thought like you. WOW! Why are these people complaining???? They have it MADE!
I have to be honest. I am a different person at BA. When I was at BMI I felt no loyalty whatsoever to the company. I went to work with no motivation, no enthusiasm. I'm sure that came across in my interaction with passengers at BMI. At BA, I am happy to go to work. I am happy with the money I earn. I am happy with the way I am treated. I put in 110% and I think this comes across in the way I am in the cabin.
In a little way, I like to think that my attitude might contribute in a small way to the industry record profits we have made. £500M last year.
This is all until very recently.
There are so many issues Banewboi, and while few people are concerned by all/many of them, there is usually one sticking point for everyone.
For me personally, I am not really bothered with the pension issue or the UD Purser issue. The issue I have with BA is EG300. After hefty negotiations, BASSA and BA came to an agreement on a process for managing attendance. After that has been signed of and implemented, BA has just fundamentally changed it.
Now, EG300 hasn't been something that has (luckily) had any impact on me so far. But I thing the issue at hand for me is, if BA think they can come to an 'agreement' with their workers and unions, and then change them at their will, what will be next? The way our allowences are generated? The way our rest is calculated?
You see, you knew exactly what you signed up for when you joined BA. And so did I. It's not that I am asking for any more than what I have. I would also certainly look at any ideas that BA have for cost saving that would provide both a benefit to the company and the crew.
But with our new managers, the problem seems to be they don't understand the notion of 'give and take' or 'negotiation'. It just seems 'take take take'.
There are around 10,000 crew at LHR. Most of us belong to BASSA. And most of us are keen to protect what we signed up for. And with the current environment of 'non negotiation' from BA, there seems few other options available to us.