There is the ulterior management motive for not budging, the fact that they have to soften up the union for the coming move to T5. I am heavily involved with the T5 project and a lot of people are going to have to get used to a lot of changes there.
the problem with these kind of disputes as misshostie rightly pointed out is that it is NOT a car plant or something similar, it is the public who ultimately suffer the most, so the best comparison would probably be a London underground transport strike. Similar numbers affected, but not losing anywhere near as much money as airline passengers will.
Any strike that dramatically affects the public will never get public support, WW is counting on this.
If BA were to recruit a whole new crew it would cost them a lot of money and time
Woops, the old "I am irreplaceable" mistake, you are not of course, no one is. that was exactly what Wapping print strike workers said and everyone else believed, within days new workers appeared and production resumed. The strike was lost almost as soon as it had started. a very clever management with clear ideas what they wanted. Even well trained firemen can be replaced if the need arises, no one is safe and no one should count on the "It took months/years to train me so it will take months/years to replace me" gambit.
Remember where WW comes from and his past conflicts with the unions, he was brought in to be hard nosed and he's doing exactly what he was told to do. He's clever, be careful.
T5 looms, I actually think WW has already achieved some of his goals and is already suppressing a smile. The vote was huge, but internally staff opinion is divided, and divided we fall. The real test will be just how many staff actually do strike, that will be the final whistle that decides who has actually won the dispute regardless of whether it continues on or not.
I am all for your strike if you feel its justified, and even if I am not, the vote being so overwhelming gives you the right to take such action. But to win or even compete you need to be cleverer than your opponent, and in this case I dont think BASSA are because their thoughts are still clouded by old unionistic attitudes.
Lets just hope that some compromise can be made before Tuesday, but if it is, it will have to come from the unions I think, I cant see any possibility of WW compromising anything, after all its his brief, its his job to do exactly what he's doing and he has a long time to work out his strategy.