Copied from the PPRUNE BA cabin crew thread
Message from Willie Walsh
Dear colleague
It has been a year since we started talks with the trade unions to do everything we can to save our airline in the face of the worst economic crisis in our history.
There has been a seismic shift in our industry, with the slump in business travel driving down our revenue by £1 billion. The fragility of our industry means many airlines have gone bust and others, such as our oneworld partner Japan Airlines, are on the brink of bankruptcy.
Despite this and the recent talks at the Trades Union Council (TUC), Unite still refuses to accept our cost saving proposals in IFCE and, as you know, it has announced another cabin crew strike ballot, raising the prospect of major disruption to our customers.
I know many of you will once again be appalled at the distress a strike would cause our customers and the damage it will do to our company – especially when so many of you have already made sacrifices.
That is why I am writing to you today.
I am asking for volunteers to back BA by training to work alongside cabin crew who choose not to support a strike, so we are ready to keep our customers flying as much as we possibly can if this strike goes ahead.
How to volunteer
If you would be willing to volunteer for both the training and the subsequent work in the air we will ask you to register via the homepage of the intranet.
From tomorrow, you can sign up to train to become volunteer cabin crew. We will be advertising the scheme across the airline, but will focus initially on people who are available in the key period and who meet the relevant criteria. Later on, there will also be the opportunity to volunteer for our customer support programme on the ground.
There will be a wealth of information on the intranet to help you choose which role would be right for you, and you should also speak with your manager before you volunteer.
Thank you for backing BA
In recent weeks, hundreds of you have volunteered in the terminals during the unprecedented winter weather to support our customers and our operation. Operational colleagues including our cabin crew have pulled out all the stops under very difficult circumstances. And only last weekend we were inundated with volunteers to take the relief 747 out to Haiti.
The path back to profitability is not easy but many of you have not only understood what is required but also made sacrifices. Reducing our costs and changing how we are structured while remaining focused on our customers are essential for our long-term survival.
I hope that Unite will recognise that a way forward can be found without the need for them to threaten our customers holidays and travel plans and I remain available to meet with them at any time.
In the meantime, thank you for volunteering and for backing BA and our customers.
I have a bit of spare time on my hands at the moment so I have just emailed Capt JM to volunteer if required. They took all our details for security passes etc after all.
On a different point if BA gets all this cabin crew nonsense sorted out does anyone think that they will be expanding the route network or frequency for the summer? And if so will there be any requirement for recruitment? Or are all the present crew working at well under capacity?
Thanks