The "pay peanuts and get monkeys" argument is pure nonsense.
I totally agree on this and it's only used as a defense. There will always be people willing to work and I'm confident that many people wouldn't mind to work for a lot less money than what some BA crew are earning only to travel around the world.
As Skylion says there is also an atmosphere in the company to finish the service as quickly as possible to get as much rest as possible.
We all have to do our share and we won't get any sympathy at all, not from any of the other departments or our customers, for going on a strike in these times.
BASSA has also proposed a solution to the company that all new crew recruited will be employed under a new contract (different pay and terms) which will meet the financial situation. Are we supposed to have crew on board which are on THREE different contracts?