The Bassa proposal smacks of a lack of preparation and thought. It, together with the pointless letters to WW, show they are "playing the man, not the ball", to paraphrase our own mods.
The pilots' pay deal, which was negotiated over months and costed with agreement from both management and Balpa to achieve known, quantifiable savings, came to 2.61% of basic pay. Bassa simply state "2.61% pay cut for us too, oh and an LTIP, just like they got" (So much for our "rolling over too easily").
Is it an attempt to once again hitch a ride with Balpa's negotiators, or a sop to their own members who demand equal treatment as pilots, or is it a carefully crafted proposition that hits the targets and coincidentally matches the pilots deal to two decimal places??
The allowances arrangement is complex, inefficient and therefore expensive. The obvious answer is a complete restructuring, whilst minimising any effect on crewmembers. Bassa suggest binning the telephone allowance. The financial equivalent of sticking two fingers up to your fellow negotiators.
The bulk of the proposal consists of back-to-backs to the middle east. This will obviously take complexity out of the business, save money, and increase flexibility. Oh, silly me, no it won't. If the company thought they could save many tens of millions of pounds doing ME back to backs, wouldn't they have done it already? (And what are global linear marks? If they want to describe a geographical area using lat/long, they should ask a pilot.)
Bassa is on its last legs, is fighting to stay in power and convince its members that it is relevant by using rhetoric and personally directed vitriol. But the facts speak louder and more eloquently. There is no logic to the proposal, it's a mash up of point scoring suggestions and uncosted wishlisting.
There are so many great crewmembers out there who deserve better representation than this. I'd suggest they get in touch today and tomorrow with their reps and tell them what they want them to negotiate, but I don't think it would do any good.... would it?