"Idol Detent" I believe sums it up perfectly.
The company counsel (BACC) will meet shortly and review last weeks sham talks. They have gone through all the hoops and assuming they are still resolute will be planning the dispute in great detail.
Make no mistake it will be planned like a military operation.Under current industrial law an official dispute gives strikers significant protection, even if BA sacks its pilot workforce, 90 days has to elapse before they are able to recruit replacement pilots. How they hope to find, train, and organise the replacement of 3000 skilled people will be impossible. Clearly they will seek to cherry pick those they want back, but as a condition of returning to work the union will seek reinstatment of all as a precondition.
To illustrate how BA had no intention of reaching an agreement, one only has to look at March's "High Life" Mag, in which there is an article about the OS project. They had the arrogance to publish this article when they they were telling the travelling public at precisely the same moment they were at ACAS seeking conciliation.
Hold fast lads, determined pilots are very difficult to beat, we have all seen how just a little hicup at LHR causes significant problems, this dispute will be nothing to whats gone before. I shall be very interested to see the BA share price next week.