Ballot wording
Does anybody know when the ballot is coming out?
It will be interesting to see how it's worded. To be credible, it will have to focus on the imposition of reduced crew compliments and future new fleet. If it does, I firmly believe BA will take out an injunction as they believe these changes are non-contractural.
If BASSA had made a pay claim which had been turned down for example, then this would be a legitimate reason to hold a ballot and strike. Unfortunately for them, they have failed to influence the agenda for some time so they are really stuck in how they package their ballot based on the current situation, now that BA has been very careful in what it is imposing. It didn't remove the 2.6% pay cut just to be nice! The T&G will of course run a legal ballot from a proedural pont of view (they've had enough practice over the years!), but this won't stop the company taking out an injunction based on the reason for the strike, assuming BASSA get a yes vote and notify them of strike dates.
This was the whole basis of the legal argument concerning the open skies dispute. When this went before the court, BALPA were made to look rather stupid when asked what the Company had done to individual pilots to warrant strike action. When the answer came back 'nothing' the case was effectively closed!
Whilst the issues are different here of course, the principle is the same.