Groundhand...
BA employees, from the Chairman, CEO down to the front line men and women have to realise that they are not 'the world's favorite' any more; that no-one owes them a living and that unless they collectively move forward their prospects are very dicey.
We do - that's why we are so upset that things are going so badly. Our punctuality has been awful in the past two years, our service well below what it should be. Despite some strengths, most people are upset with the state of the operation and its beyond their control. As a pilot, I can influence punctuality, but only in a negative sense. I can't make tugs appear or an aeroplane arrive on stand sooner if I am stuck waiting for one to arrive. Given that I'm always ready unless something gets in my way I feel that I am delivering a service that is worth the money. Unfortunately the airline as a whole is not. All of us play a part in that, but by doing my job well, along with almost all of my colleagues we can't make it any better. Other forces are required - this includes changing working practices and managing things better - and getting rid of people who are not needed. Unfortunately Willie came along with a giant axe and took bits off of every part of the operation, when in fact he should have added to some and taken away from others. Its a management issue rather than one of working practices, although they do play a part.
The management view of working practices is poorer than it ought to be, they single out the minority and extrapolate that to the the majority. Our cabin crew for instance, who are seen as inflexible (and some indeed are), often work right up to the maximum they are allowed to legally in longhaul. You can't get much more out of them than the legal max.... (and I don't mean union max).
A lot of airlines who seemingly have flexible crews often loose many (they get fed up) and use questionable practices. Like an airline who recently asked someone I know to fly two early sectors, position up the country and then fly two lates, calling the time in the taxi "rest" to allow the duty. That's just illegal and stupid and I for one am pleased we have union agreements to prevent that. Having seen both sides of the coin in BA and outside, I think the union agreements, at least for some groups of staff, help both the company and the staff.
What doesn't help is not seeing the woods for the trees, and Willie is doing just that. He can't see the incompetence of staff below him (including illegal deals) and can't see that investment is needed to prevent losses. BA says today that the T5 probs have cost £16million. Imagine if we spent half of that training staff and planning, we would still be 8m ahead, its just it wouldn't be seen like that, it would be seen as 8m wasted. We'd still have the same staff and the same working practices, but we'd have a working terminal and plenty to be proud of, and also we'd have a stronger bottom line and future.