MissM,
I'm sorry but your safety "worries" smack of a tired and panicky BASSA line and won't hold water. I did more survival training than you require for your job when I was at school in the CCF. If half of the crew have to have 3 months experience for safety reasons, then with the (at least) 4,000 they have already, it equates to (at least) 8,000 if you add volunteers.
AND it isn't much of a stretch to offer a 30, 60, or even 90 day (ring any bells?) contract to any of the thousands of unemployed FlyGlobeSpan, BMI, etc, crew who have only recently been laid off. (Think Post Office).
Why don't you just admit Willie Walsh has totally outflanked you (with help from the clueless Malone and accompanying sycophants), and realise that you can actually gauge from the level of support it gets internally just how selfish and irrelevant BASSA have become to today's BA.
Willie Walsh said he isn't going to let Unite RUIN the airline. I think you can read between the lines and infer that he isn't going to let BASSA RUN it any more, either.
Unite can get their YES votes in now, I don't think anyone cares any more.
If Wicked Willie gets sufficient support from non-striking CC and volunteers, and there are enough unemployed/pool CC to walk straight in, then the 90 terminations are probably already going in the envelopes and being franked.
I can't wait to see how long BASSA can try and spin this one out now that people are staring unemployment in the face.