BASSA will not survive this
12 days of strike will cost BA what? £500m? BA are already expecting losses of about that for the year, so this year would be another £1b loss just like last year. Can BA afford that - no, not really. Would that destroy the company? Quite possibly, if you consider the pension deficits too. Will Willie let that happen? No way!
So, is Willie going to back down? Quite simply, he cannot - 1000 crew have already taken voluntary redundancy and left the company. It would be physically impossible for him to grant their wishes! Also the company will not survive if he does. BASSA seem unable to comprehend that BA will soon reach a point of no return, where aircraft depreciation is so rapid, that it is no longer a commercially viable business in the long term, because it cannot afford the depreciation of its assets and the cost of the finance required to replace those depreciating assets. BA needs new aircraft orders soon, or it is up the creek. BASSA do not believe this, but since those that are likely to give BA the required finance do, BASSA's opinion is irrelevant. So Willie cannot back down. The savings have to be found, and they cannot just be a two year loan (which no matter who's figures you believe, is all that BASSA have EVER offered BA in these nine months of negotiation).
The travelling public are so dead against the cabin crew that they will turn their anger to BA unless the cabin crew are dealt with firmly. I believe the minimum they would accept would be the destruction of the union, but I'd say they also want to see the cabin crew pay personally.
The cabin crew will not win this. Forget emotion, and what is fair, and all the rest of it. BA will not survive unless they win. Basically this means the cabin crew are in a lose - lose situation, and they have been manoeuvred into this corner by an outdated union.
Either way, BA's cabin crew have just made themselves the most hated work group both within the company, and outside of it.
Good luck BA.