I nearly didn’t post this because I don’t want the "ants post" to get lost, it is soooo good.
Dear 016FSM,
I have read your posts with interest especially the transition from your first post to current/last post, a serious transformation.
I don’t think BA is supported by the government anymore are they?
I have a good idea of how many carriers in the states have gone bust. None of the reasons in reports I have read have ever cited explicitly it was due to strong unions and strikes every 5 minutes. Reasons cited have included specifically, 9/11 & low consumer confidence post this, the linked mini (pretty major) stock market crash ,credit bubble, further low confidence (tails falling of planes, shoe bombers) expansion of low cost carriers and to ice the cake increasing fuel prices. Most don’t officially go bust, the chapter 11 laws there help them (via government, which I still don’t believe BA would get today, well, not without SRB or MOL throwing a wobbly). Some have now come out of chapter 11 status through changing their business models and a return to consumer confidence.
Remember that many crews took drastic pay cuts to help these airlines. As a result they are still flying under the same name, however there has been some pain as the managers realised they have managed to crew flights at reduced costs and tried to keep this going when no longer required. This then turned to bite them and has then led to disgruntled workforces, the most recent example Air France resulting in strike as management didn’t want to give their new found millions through employee savings back to the employees. (Give an inch and they take a mile).
If the strikes hit home hard then yes cut backs could happen, not only in crew but perhaps in other areas of the company where there is obvious expense that is not required. Many areas spring to mind that have been discussed throughout the history of "the famous Virgin PPruNe debate", however of all of those the cheapest is crew. (How many managers does it take to…. jokes spring to mind).
I would love John Harvey Jones (Troubleshooter) to come into Virgin and carryout a business health check; I think the results would be staggering.
I have been here a considerable time also and have chosen to make flying my career, as for ruining the company in trying to achieve what we are worth, why should the blame fall on our shoulders? This is a two way process - we should have been more stubborn in previous years as our colleagues were. For years the company has underpaid. Initially yes it was discounted as the sense of “family in red” was there, however that is long gone now and with the sharp increase in the cost of “everything” without the associated increase in pay, what used to work by saving and scraping to get by is no longer viable, there simply isn’t any room left, so something has to give, either my years of service or the company. This has been a time bomb ticking down for some time it hasn’t come out of the blue (or red).
If the company has had so many offers from people coming to help, why is it offering incentives also?
Sadly, I do not share your outlook of the company’s actions if the crew back down at this stage; I believe it will only make them more disrespectful towards the crew ,believing that bullying is acceptable, money can buy everything and crew cant afford to strike. The company think that most crew are so small minded that enough will work for short term gains irrelevant of what this will mean in the long term. I however grant the crew with much more savee than that and think most will find the attempt to "buy them off" as a further expression of disrespect and insult and be counter productive
Sorry that was so long, 400 words to say, sorry I disagree
A Red Ant.
Last edited by VCCM; 3rd Jan 2008 at 00:56.