So there is some common ground
The more that this thread has gone on, the more I am convinced that there is a growing acknowledgement on both sides of the real issue and that is the future of BA.
Lurker is among a group that clearly speaks for BASSA and it has to be said that they do keep their end up extremely well. Without their presence on the forum there would be little real debate making the thread pointless.
Mixed in with the BASSA supporters on this forum are some very perceptive opponents that certainly have a good insight as to what running an airline is all about and the need to trade without the threat of industrial action.
Over the many years that BASSA have been in existence, they have done a fantastic job of building up membership and creating a very loyal following. Indeed, to have over 10,000 of the workforce of BA Cabin Crew signed up is very impressive. With the loyal following and the continual skilled negotiations with BA over the more successful years, BASSA has secured terms and conditions that are impressive.
We have a situation where BASSA has a working agreement in place that requires their acceptance of changes to working practices. Given that turkeys don’t vote for Christmas and the representatives know they can call on their membership for support when agreement is not reached, most would agree that BASSA is certainly in a very enviable position.
The acknowledgement that I talked about at the start of the post is that British Airways needs to become more competitive to survive in the marketplace. It needs profits for re-equipping, pension deficits, dividends etc. The good times are over, the gravy train has hit the buffers. I think everyone is looking for BASSA to chip a bit into the pot as well as all the other groups that make up British Airways in order that it can go forward.
To my certain knowledge, under all of the CEO's, British Airways has never missed banking the pay cheque and sure it will continue to do so given just a little support from it's worforce.