Quite simply, as it is...
Dear Friends,
As your union, we have done our absolute level best to warn you of the disastrous situation you now face. This, quite simply, is the biggest threat to your future, promotion prospects and livelihoods that we have ever seen. It has been talked about for almost a year.
It is now here: we can only repeat our warnings to you one last time. Bassa and Amicus sections of Unite have joined together to fight for you and this in itself should tell you how serious the situation is.
Agreement is a thing of the past; from now on change will simply be imposed. Whether you are based at Heathrow or Gatwick, are main crew, purser or CSD/CM makes little difference. Up to now, your flying life has been made up of agreements, some good and some less so, but nonetheless a structure for you to work to. Not any longer; management have decided if it does not suit them then they will simply change it; what they want and when they want it.
This is not being dramatic in any way; it is reality and a blue print for the future. Reduced crewing etcetera is only the beginning. Forget travel payments and the like. How long do you think that will last? You're being distracted. They hope as your routes dwindle that you won't mind too much because you have got a "travel payment". Remember the "money back guarantee" after the '97 dispute? It was supposed to be for life, but lasted 3 years.
If you take part time, how long will your earnings and work last before you're forced back to full time to try and make ends meet, or to pay your mortage? And to what kind of agreement?
At Gatwick, current crew feel disenfranchised by the better agreements that exist at Heathrow, and in turn blame Heathrow crew for that, yet miss the obvious fact that the real blame lies with a management that simply won't offer them comparable agreements. They could do but they won't. Instead they encourage a "them and us" and "why should they have all that and you don't" attitude.
Is this to be the future for us all? Where worsening levels of change are imposed upon one area after another and rather than aspiring to better arrangements, we will all be caught in a downward spiral.
You will have only one chance. If you waste this opportunity now, you will not get another. Your agreements were hard fought for by us and the crew that have gone before us and we urge you not to surrender them meekly.
Vote YES to industrial action and show them that you're still proud to work for BA and of the job that you do but that you won't be walked over. Insist that BA returns to the table to negotiate change - not impose it.
We want to see that this company truly values its customers, in not causing them any future disruption by forcing crew into an unnecessary strike.
You're the best cabin crew in the world; you do not have to feel embarrassed to earn a decent living and to pay a mortage. You do a great job for this company; you're its public face, the reason that people fly with BA and you've earned the right to a proper wage.
Don't forget that we've not refused to accept cost savings - far from it. We've previously offered to make genuine concessions worth tens of millions of pounds, far more than any other area within BA.
Those offers were refused. Why? Because it would sadly appear that this was never really about saving money but about that good old-fashioned management principle - the "right to impose". THey want to tell you what to do and when to do it and if you don't like it, then leave. You won't be a valued employee but a commodity in a uniform that can be obtained more cheaply for them, that is far more important than you, our customers or our airline.
Now is the time for them to be sensible and to truly "put our customers first". Our board of directors must now act to protect the reputation and standing of our airline. To do otherwise would beggar belief, as any savings achieved would immediately be lost.
This is page 1 of 2 of the orange coloured propaganda news letter that came with the ballot paper. Page 2 to follow shortly.
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