M.Mouse, what do you mean about new and old pay scales converging? I'm new contract, and when I reach the top of the main crew pay scale, will be earning signigicantly less than somebody at the top of the old contract main crew pay scale. Just wanted to point that out.
I think it's fairly clear that WW was brought in with a remit to slash costs and increase profits. As IFS must be the biggest department, it seems pretty logical to start there (although I don't know if IFS headcount costs more than say flight crew headcount?). Personally, I think there's a game being played out here. I think Columbus was leaked on purpose to send cabin crew into a tail spin. And it worked!