CFC,
Whether or not they have been in BA since its inception or just joined last week makes no difference at all.
BA has had to publish detailed cost breakdowns both as a National Airline and as a private stock market listed company.
Those cost details can be seen by anyone who is interested and those, including the costings held by the CAA, show that BA Cabin Crew are far more expensive per head than any other competitive airline with similar structure.
If you search for it yourself I'm sure you can find the figures but to assist here are the CAA figures from back BEFORE the boom.
Table_1_14_Airline_Personnel_Cost_UK_and_Overseas_2003.pdf
oddly enough the BA line reads:
BRITISH AIRWAYS PLC (a) 3156 Male Pilots 155 Female Pilots 84.8% average expenditure per head - 4468 Male CC 9426 Female CC 27.8% average expenditure per head
and, back in 2003 before their merger:
BRITANNIA AIRWAYS 410 Male Pilots 12 Female Pilots 98.3% Average expenditure per head - 273 Male CC 1232 Female CC 17.1% Average expenditure per head
So, since then Brittania has been mergered with far cheaper CC and a change in their terms. BA flight crew were cheaper per head than Brittania in 2003 and have subsequently modified their T's & C's to reflect the change in global circumstance and BASSA have altered what exactly?
Now don't get me wrong, BASSA as a union have done well to protect what they have until now, achieved on the whole by cutting off and abandoning limbs such as Glasgow, Manchester and Gatwick and protecting Fortress Heathrow, they have fallen drastically at this hurdle by their complete unwillingness to face facts that they must change. This has been exacerbated by weak management in the past but that isn't occurring now. BASSA should have made a stab at effective negotiation BEFORE the 30th June deadline. Anything the company gives now is by BA's grace not BASSA's hard work.