I am on the outside but am a frequent BA customer.
If you are not happy with your union and they decide to ballot for a strike (not sure what the reason at the moment could be after yesterday's court hearing) just vote NO and then cancel your membership. Without members there would be no union. No point complaining about a union that some people have no faith in when you continue to be a member. It is not a closed shop.
The imposition they seem to be annoyed about is very modest under the present financial circumstances. Just one crew member off a large aircraft when there is another crew member who can help out who would otherwise be supervising.
I am more than surprised to read about the health issues this could present for crew and customers.
Are the 777's at LGW crewed with the same amount of crew that LHR 777's are and do they have the same cabin layouts and number of passengers?