BKS
Firstly, I hope you don't take any of this debate as some sort of personal attack, it's actually quite refreshing to see someone engage with the debate on a higher level than "you must hate crew" or "you are a manager". It's also interesting to get the view point of someone on the outside waiting to get in, who hasn't yet been indoctrinated in to the BASSA way of thinking too much.
I thought the point you made here was quite interesting;
Also FlexSRS are BA or BASSA even proposing that current crew work harder so that new recruits will be on the same pay? I think NOT! Don’t know where that came from?
We all know that new crew will not be on the same T&C’s no one is disputing that.
And talking about fair and lgw teenagers etc Who cares? Not me if im honest. You get a job, you get a base, you get pay for that specific base and even if the work is the same that’s how it works.
Personally, I find it really interesting that you take all this as a given. (new crew on worse Ts&Cs, bases other than LHR on worse Ts&Cs)
The point is, it really doesn't have to be like that. It's presented to the BASSA membership as a given too, which is a real shame, because after a while people start to believe it, and the only people it really suits to keep the status quo is senior, old contract LHR crew. (now, who has the influence in BASSA?)
British Airways doesn't really care how the IFCE budget is spent, they just have a figure in mind, and have to have a certain amount of crew to cover the flights. As it is, about 1/3 of the crew take about 2/3 of the money, or something approaching that. If it was all evenly spread out, it wouldn't make a jot of difference to BA.
All these things that you take as a given, they are all up for negotiation, and that, crucially is where 70% of the BASSA membership have been let down, because it doesn't suit the minority for things to be fair. When BASSA had the opportunity to negotiate with BA, everything was on the table. As long as the required cost savings were made (which they will be, one way or another) then there was unlimited scope about how to go about it.
It would have been perfectly possible to flatten out the pay structure across the various contracts and bases, as long as the bill came to the same amount. The majority could have benefited. With a fair pay structure, moving about between bases and fleets would not even be an issue. People doing the same job would get the same pay.
All these sorts of things and more could be sorted out overnight, but they wont, because it doesn't suit the minority that seem to have this ridiculous hold over the rest of the crew. Given how smart our crew are supposed to be, with so many graduates etc, it constantly amazes me. It's a psychologists dream, 'group think' or something.
When you think about how unfair a lot of it is, I'm amazed there isn't an uprising amongst the 70% who are toiling away to provide for the minority. It really doesn't have to be like that,
everything is up for negotiation, it just needs people to stand up for themselves and tell the BASSA leadership to start looking out for everyone, not just themselves.
Then again, maybe the majority are just kind hearted souls who are happy getting less, for ever, just because they were born a few years later. You never know!
(I hope if you get in, and it is on worse Ts&Cs, you don't feel too demotivated when you find out how much more some of your colleagues on the same plane, doing the same job, on the same roster are getting. I don't think I'd be able to keep quiet!)