There are some lovely 'bites' from the BASSA letter!
The significant difference was that management "wanted" to reach a deal. They wanted the pilots done and dusted and out of the way, to increase the moral pressure on other areas.
Fantastic, I'm sure the BACC would have loved to have known this gem before the hard negotiating began. We could have sat back with our feet up and let the company come begging to us.
To achieve this, the company has allowed a "sweetheart" deal to be reached
Very unfair. The difference is that over the past 10 years the pilot community HAS reached agreements and changed T's & C's with the company, hence the 'pain' this time round is less.
With this deal, any pretence of fairness or equality would appear to have evaporated. When you examine the pilot deal you will see any losses are paid back later which also fits in with Willie Walsh having his bonuses merely deferred until 2011. If you check out the definition of defer in the dictionary it says "to put off something or leave it to a later time" and this, in essence is the secret as to why BALPA are quick to recommend acceptance. But it seems "what's good for the goose is (not) good for the gander" and cabin crew are expected to give up not only much more but also give it up for good.
Hmm, again, a little wide of the truth. The figures given in the pilot deal mean a loss of at least £4500 per pilot for each remaining year of employment based upon current salary. The 'share deal' was separately negotiated by BALPA to allow for a LTIP which has a large number of triggers and is worth £4000 dependant on share price. Hardly deferment.
There seems to be a real "them and us" situation developing here and that is borne out by Mr Walsh's invitation for crew to work a month for nothing.
Not just
crew BASSA, not just crew, everyone. I.e. the 'other' 26000 people working for BA.
In short this "let the pilots off easy, make them senior managers and give them free shares policy" is being funded by you.
Ahhhhh, no. Considering that pilots are effectively and according to FCO's (as was) the aircrafts line managers this should come as no surprise. It is being funded by the pilots being a quantifiable resource and operating longer hours for less money. Achievable due to correct, timely and sensible pay restructuring and adjusting over the past 10 years or so.
Judge for yourselves; take a moment to compare this to the pilot's deal outlined below and you will see the difficulty and enormity of the task that we face. Attaining such a cosy arrangement may not be quite so easy for us to reach and how we may well be "being set up to fail" so that Mr Walsh can justify his impositions come July 1st.
Not set up for a fall or to fail just being asked to negotiate for once and to accept that the years of 'No, no, no and again No, now what was the question?' are over. The company will tackle the disparity of T's & C's for once and for all as the time for BASSA and the CC to accept an adjustment are long overdue.
The funding for the company to survive this downturn is there. The willingness to invest in BA as a profitable airline is there. The business acumen of the investors is telling them 'not until the unions have been brought into line'. This time it will happen.
I don't want anyone to lose jobs over this, hopefully it can all be sorted out like adults and imposition won't happen. Sadly, due to mis-information from the union and thus wasted time and effort on both side I think the time for a negotiated settlement is rapidly slipping past. On a night stop the other day the purser was vociferously against any change with the 'what have I got to lose' argument, whereas the younger crew members actually believed that change was required.
Less than 2 weeks to decision time.