As a member of BALPA & a BA pilot (I do apologise) I can assure you that the BACC do not want to screw around with our passengers or mess up the T5 move. Unfortunately due process has to be followed, concilliation,courts etc and only then will a (hopefully not) strike date be announced. There is no sinister subtext as far as I am aware to cause more pain to our customers especially around the holiday period.
We are not luddites and I was brought up in a mining/mill family up north, to compare a failing manual industry with a booming service sector is ridiculous and unnecessarily emotive.
Lets hope it will be resolved, however can assure those of you 'outside' the BA pilot community our resolve of the mainly reasonable moderate, senior/junior, P1/P2 shorthaul/longhaul is very firm.