Gypsy
For a start BA & BALPA would be pretty hard pressed to improve ts and Cs in companies that don't have union recognition.
As for GO i concede that at the time BALPA was rotten from the core with too many feathering their own nests to give a damn about line pilots. Outsourcing was new in BA at the time and too many "i'm alright Jack" pilots wouldn't have given the union a mandate to do anything. I believe these times have changed and the current BA company council are excellent and i have more faith in them than i've ever had in BALPA.
As for giving you strength, i'm afraid i can't do that; all i can say is that comapring multi-sector days for RYR and 2 man B2B's is comparing apples and oranges. I have done both (and still do on the 757/767) and both leave you tired abeit in a differant way. I personally find that SH just requires 1 good night kip to recover whereas a 2 man East coast requires a few days, more if it's a B2B. This is more akin to fatigue than tiredness.
And as for NY being a "nice " nightstop - it is excellent - that is if you are staying in Manhattan. Where is Openskies putting its crew up again? the BA owned hotel is full of mainline crew everynight so my guess is you will be staying in New Jersey or out on Long Island. Trust me on this, if you aren't in Manhattan then NY is a 5h1te nightstop. Oh, and as your cabin crew are NY based they won't be with you either so it's candlelit meals for 2.