Hi - to USFA and From Tunbridge Wells and thanks for sharing your objective views on what is an extremely difficult time for those of us caught up in it. It is really reassuring, for those of us that do not support the BASSA stance, to know that we are not going mad!
I am BA cabin crew, and I am absolutely mortified by the way some of my colleagues are behaving. To all pilots everywhere, please please know that they do NOT represent the majority. I and many of my colleagues fully appreciate the very hard and skilled work that you do - I always have a superb rapport with the flight crew I work with, and have NEVER had cause to complain. I have nothing but the greatest admiration for your professionalism and expertise and am ashamed by the attitude of my colleagues. I'm not married to a pilot, I simply respect their profession.
The problem we have here is enormous. BASSA simply fight because they can. Not because they have reason or logic. Simply because they can. They want to be in control. They are nobodys that have become somebodys by attaining the grand position of Union reps and can now wield this enormous influence over people. So they do. Somebody said it is the blind leading the blind sheep, and that is exactly right.
BASSA have now told it's followers that the BA proposal is a 40% pay cut
. It is not. It is simply working harder, or longer, or more. That's all.
CSDs working on the plane (shock, horror)
Single nightstops for WW instead of double
Less time off on EF
A disruption agreement that puts the customer first.
And that is it. Nothing that isn't doable. Or perhaps negotiable.
But please, please help us. We do not know how to explain to our colleagues that BASSA are leading them to the dole queue. Some have tried, on other forums, only to be absolutely slated. As GG has stated, over on CF they are literally like rabid dogs. Some Cabin crew have actually been named on there and phrases like "I'd like to punch their ugly faces" are being banded about. The language is beyond obscene. These people are so so riled up by the BASSA hysteria that they have lost the little ability they had to think in the first place.
What can we do? This is getting dangerous now. CRM is at an all time low - not only between Pilots and Cabin crew, but within the cabin crew community. We need to stop the rot. Some have spoken out on our ESS forum and they are now in serious danger because they are being threatend on the CrewForum, which goes completely unmoderated. I am not prepared to sit back and let BASSA ruin our great company. But what alternatives do we have when faced with a pack of hysterical, abusive people who haven't had the sense to read and understand the proposals for themselves?