HiFlyer14
Please can we all be a little less vicious in our approach. I am not a militant member of cabin crew, I am unlikely to strike, I AM prepared to work harder and be more productive - but I DO NOT want to be sat at home on basic pay when New Fleet have been given our work. Is that such a sin?
No, not a sin, but probably unlikely to happen. WW will not see you sat at home on basic pay. Those surplus to requirements will be out of the company.
Your approach is laudable - you are prepared to work harder and be more productive. What you need to do is to tell BASSA to negotiate those changes on your behalf.
If BASSA were to do that, the £xxmillion CC target would likely be met without a great reduction in take home pay, because fewer would be required (esp in shorthaul - think reducing broken links, agreeing to fixed links thus reducing standby numbers of crew; in longhaul think changing the disruption agreement that has cost multi millions this year alone), and those numbers could be taken out of the business by part time etc with all working harder when at work, thus reducing unit costs which is WW's objective.
The time is NOW to ask your reps to explain fully the pros and cons and not just spout out 1970's rhetoric.
I seem to remember how when OpenSkies was seen as such a "threat" to Pilots' T&C's we were all asked for our support then, but now however cabin crew are expected to roll over and accept the New Fleet.
Double standards methinks...
BALPA NEVER asked anyone for support in our fight - that would have been illegal under the law of the land. There are/were differences wrt SCOPE agreements (which pilots have but cabin crew never have had). In the end the company came lately upon a legal loophole and triumphed - something that EU Unions are collectively seeking to overturn in the future.
In fact, you could argue that what BALPA were trying to defend with OpenSkies a year ago, and BASSA then ignored, is now coming home to roost for BASSA members BECAUSE you don't have a SCOPE agreement with the company, and hence our OpenSkies fight is now your New Fleet fight and, for you, equally unwinnable in law.
So, in conclusion, I re-iterate, if you want to keep your jobs (and the majority of your current benefite), now is the time to INSTRUCT your union to negotiate the necessary changes on your behalf (they represent YOU after all) before something 100% worse is imposed on you all ...... better to retain 90% of what you have than nothing at all, imho!