Hey VCCM, how long you been flying for Virgin? I've been here over 21 years and have seen the company go through some pretty bad times!! Many of my friends took redundancy after 9/11 and it was thanks to them that many of us, including me, kept their jobs. And why the redundancies? Because the airline was up you know what creek because there were no passengers!!
After BA went on strike, they kept their passengers because they're a huge outfit supported by the government. The pax we have we have because we built our reputation over many years of hard work, if we lose them, we aint gonna get them back so quick, trust me!!
If this strike hits the company really badly, they will start making cut backs and the first thing to go, will be some of the crew! New routes will be lost and they'll try to save every penny that they can whereever they can.
Have you any idea why so many of the U.S airlines went bankrupt a few years ago? Because their unions were so damned strong that the crew were on strike every 5 minutes and they lost money left right and centre!!
YES, as i've always said, I want a decent wage, but I'm not going to ruin Virgin's reputation and my chance of keeping my job fighting for it!! When you've been here 15 years plus and you're in your 40's, then maybe you'll understand where I'm coming from!! And before anyone says, "I won't be here that long", can I ask why? Cos it's not your intention to make a career out of flying? Well it wasn't mine either, but I did!!!
Our union will not crumble, we have made our point and the airline now knows we are ready for a fight, but a fight that we can win, not that will see us rub our own noses in Sh*t cos we end up being made redundant!! Let's get rid of B Boyd, he's useless, find someone else who knows what their members are asking for, not one who recommends a deal to find that over 70% of their members reject it!! The company knows we mean business. If we don't strike, the company will see that we don't want to ruin them and that's why we backed down, NOT because we gave in!!