Now we are getting somewhere;
A.Lurker says;
Absolutely - everyone in IFCE see's the need to make changes that will protect the future for us all....
Not an opinion shared by BASSA it would seem. The savings they offered, apart from being hugely over-valued (by their own admission, the figures they mentioned when briefing the city were way below what they told their own members) were only to be temporary, and to be paid back within a few years IIRC.
So, say we could make the huge leap, and BASSA now accept that IFCE have to make savings, like everyone else, and they shouldn't be a special case, they (BASSA) have to decide how they want to make them.
They could;
a) Just decide amongst themselves, and offer a load of things that the crew don't necessarily want, and that protect old contract CSDs, things like no increment rises (doesn't matter if you're on the top scale), or things that no-one seems to want, 2.6% pay cut for example.
or
b) Ask, poll, research etc, and find out what the crew actually want to give up. (now we have established that they have come to the conclusion that they will have to give
something up).
I have a sneaking suspicion that after a month or two of these new crewing levels being in place, most crew would probably come to the conclusion that in a choice between something that hits the bottom right of their pay slip, and working slightly harder, most people would opt to keep the pay. (The same I would imagine would go for New Fleet, even if it was a little short sighted, that is human nature. Would you rather lose money so new joiners can be on the same deal as you, or would you rather keep what you have, and let them have less, after all, they knew what they were signing up for. (a la Gatwick....)
If you go with option b), I think you might find you end up in a similar situation as you do now, it just depends if you want to go through a strike to get there, and if you can swallow your pride and realise that in actual fact, its a pretty good deal, and even if you end up negotiating a deal, its going to look remarkably similar..
Just a thought...