Actually CFC it seems to me the flight crew on this forum seem to have a much better idea of what is really going on than the cabin crew. It's been a one way stream of facts, figures, details and analysis, met largely by spurious and frequently incorrect information largely peddled by BASSA. It's probably worthy of note that there are representatives of other unions present in one capacity or another at many of the negotiations. That means that some people are informed neither by BA nor BASSA but by essentially independent witnesses. That's certainly one reason why other groups seem to have significantly more detail on what actually went on in the Big Brother house than the crew community. Blind faith in one's leadership is just that: blind.
I really don't see the point of wheeling the Chairman out just to state the obvious - that he does back Willie (and indeed his CFO who set the 30th June deadline). It was mentioned earlier that people cling to rumours in BA, and any idea that the board is somehow split over the cost savings is a triumph of hope over reality. There are no bleeding hearts in the boardroom pitying the poor cabin crew. Walsh was brought in to slash costs, something he has done effectively. If he wasn't axed over the T5 opening he's not going to be axed for taking the unions to task. Perhaps the board would like him to risk IA this time in order to prevent the unions threatening IA of their own accord every other year? If you think the Chairman is daft enough to be cornered into answering a "Do you want the cabin crew to strike" question with anything other than a response that the company needs to cut costs then you are dreaming. As to the pilots getting preferential treatment, how do you square that with the engineers also agreeing terms with the company? And GSS being inch close? Are they all Willies favourites? Finally, who exactly do you think BA is run for? The staff, or the 'greedy corporates'? BA is a business like any other, and it's there to serve the needs of it's shareholders.