Pokergirl/litebulbs,
I don't hold the 2% against the crew and I don't resent what you have done. Our 2% was nothing to do with crew and crew were in a position where you had an organisation that could negotiate on your behalf and I do think you needed a bit more (don't we all), but when you compare that to what some of the people on the ground get, you ain't that hard done by as crew (I watched the crew work on a chocka full flight a couple of months back and they must have done 3-4 hours work tops on a 10+ hour flight - rest of the time was walking round the cabin, sleeping in crew rest or chatting in the galleys - and the chat was mostly about what they were going to do/buy down route on the way out and what they had done/bought on the way back - no doubt coming out of the allowances that are meant for food and drink are they not ?) compared to BA you might not get as much, but they are well... BA - they are in a different league to VS when it comes to pay (and making a sh!t load more money), but their perks are not as good as what we get - (now if you could place a value on what the VS perks are worth and have the option of having the perks or the money with an option to change every few years or so.....
an idea maybe ??.) Also did someone not post in one of the many threads that Bmi crew get LESS than VS crew do so there is always someone worse off.
I too have been a union member for about 10 years (not recognised by the company though), but unfortunately the company sees ALL ground staff as one entity, there is no distinction between engineers, the girls at check-in, cargo chaps or the pen pushers in the office, so when the last vote went ahead about 7 years ago, those at the office voted against having a union as working in an office is pretty much the same anywhere, but working in an office for an airline that gives you 7 free flights a year and discounts on just about everything else, then it soon takes on a different outlook and seems pretty damn good so we didn't get it and we have not had a vote since (and to be honest I don't even think anyone would know now how to go about having another vote as from what I understand we've had our 1 chance and thats that) !!.
If the company would group office staff and airport staff seperately, then the front line airport staff who like the crew have to deal with the sh!t day after day would probaly have the union in tomorrow, but when we have the office staff grouped in with us too, we have virtually no chance !!
Anyway I'm just glad this has all ended amicably though as there were alot of our colleauges in certain non critical behind the scenes areas who had been notified that their jobs were at risk if the crew went on strike. Hopefully they will be able to sleep easier at night now.
