Hey Carnage, I believe the deal not to back-date the pay rise has partially paid for the extra increments on post '97 scales. When BASSA first put their demands to BA, BA claimed they would cost £42m p.a, including the extra increments, extra OT/box payments etc for earlier downroute report times etc etc. This has been reduced to £10M with the deal not to back date the payrise and the shelving of downroute report times until the next worldwide steering meeting. These are figures provided by BASSA though so read into them what you will (not that BA's figures are likely to be any more transparent).
Whom 'won' is a view that is a personal one I guess. Personally, I am happy with the deal. Being post '97 LHR WW crew I will get more increments. I was never expecting this, i knew the payscale when I joined, but hey, it's a bonus and one i'm certainly not going to refuse. My only other beef was EG300. It could be a fair system but is very VERY poorly implemented and managed. At least now it is being sorted out.
However. i'm sure there are collegues of mine closer to retirement age on the pre '97 contract that feel they have gained nothing at all.
So whether Willie or the union is the victor is down to personal opinion and I guess us business amateurs can view the deal how we like yet lets face it, we don't really know the numbers involved.
There is an interesting article in Feb 3 issue of 'The Business' magazine regarding the dispute.
Some paragraphs (by Jon Ashworth and Allister Heath):
'The latest dispute between BA and its cabin crews was settled after an 11th-hour agreement on Monday; but it left planes flying empty and cost the beleagured airline millions. Though company and union stepped back from the brink, BA's fractious labour relations illustrate one of the most alarming new trends to hit the British economy: a return of union militancy.'
'BA unions have their own brand of militancy; even though the company was privatised 20 years ago, it retains many of the archaic practices and attitudes of a state-owned company.'
'The British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association (BASSA), a branch of the T&G, is the biggest single group of organised labour at BA, representing 10,500 cabin crew. In a ballot to walk out in the latest dispute over sick leave allowances and working practices....96% of BASSA members voted in favour of industrial action (and that was in an 80% turnout).'
'Like the newspaper industry before the watershed Wapping dispute of 1986, when publishers couldn't afford a strike by their print workers as it meant the immediate loss of all their business, Britain's erstwhile flag carrier, already damaged by the Gate Gourmet illegal strike of 2005, is being held hostage by militants that can ground its flights at a whim.'
'Willie Walsh, BA's chief executive, didn't help himself with his tactics during the latest dispute. But he has an almost impossible job and BA's unions could yet destroy a once-great airline.'
Sober reading!
Last edited by keeperboy; 8th Feb 2007 at 18:16.