Gosh, how things have deteriorated. The likelihood of the strike achieving its aims (?) is looking more and more doubtful as each day passes. Conversations with my CC colleagues when on flights and downroute give me the sense that they are finally realising that they have made a big mistake and that they have been left high and dry by their pathetic union.
I just wish that there had been a bit more common sense from more of you. I refer back to my original post on this topic
here. I don't want to say "I told you so" but back in October, you were given friendly advice that many failed to comprehend.
The comparisons with the film "Ants" or how we, the pilots, conducted our negotiations is not realistic. We had almost unanimous support from the pilot workforce for our union negotiators. Also, we have a union that is made up of very professional people with excellent support and training packages for our reps. In addition, our union (association) is almost exclusively dedicated to our workgroup and we are not some sub-division of a larger, generalised union.
Also, we did not achieve our aims in one big leap. It took may years of negotiations and incremental steps for us to get our last 3 year pay deal. To watch how your union and its pathetic negotiators have managed to screw things up that so badly for you is not nice. We all agree that you deserve better conditions. What we don't agree on is how your union have gone about it.
So, what can you do about it now? Not much I suspect. The damage has been done. Your terms and conditions as well as working relationships between crew and management will have been set back as much as ten years or more. Those that turn up for work on strike days, and I suspect that it will be a majority, will probably earn enough over the strike days to cover the loss of the 4.8% offer. Those that do strike will almost certainly lose a lot more than just the 4.8% they could have had whilst they regrouped and went into the next round in a much stronger position.
Finally, for those that are going to have a whinge at the fact that a pilot will earn £300 or more just for operating an LAX should consider that we are not paid a "flight supplement". We negotiated an hourly rate for part of our package and we did so from a position of absolute strength, not maybe 30% of our workforce. If you want to earn the money we do than you have to make the effort and do the studies and training we did. It's not rocket science and the majority of us don't even have a university education.
We have achieved our current decent salary by having around 98% membership of a good pilots association (union) who are dedicated to what we do and not just some branch of a general workers union. We incrementally negotiated to where we are today and didn't expect a result in one go. We made proposals to the company that included concessions from us. However, we also showed the company where they could make concessions and how much of our salary could be paid for in increased productivity.
Maybe it's too late for you cabin crew to get your acts together but you should at least try and salvage something by phoning and emailing en-mass to your union reps or better still, your managers and see if you can get a reasonable offer back on the table and show willingness to talk about it. It certainly won't be better than the original deal and most likely will be worse because the company will want to recover some of the losses that the strike announcement has had on the commercial side of the operation.
Unless you are totally united and organised and ready to go into negotiations next time in such a position then you are doomed to many more years of poor terms and conditions and lacklustre, vindictive management. Judging from the posts on here, you all need a serious kick up the arse for not being cohesive enough and for not listening to free advice in the first place.
I told you so! 