There are so many pages about this dispute I don't know where to start.
I travelled with BA in World Traveller to LHR yesterday and the crew who worked at my side was a really nice guy in his mid 20's. We talked for a while and I asked him how he felt about this dispute. He said that he has always been against it, working with less staff on the plane is not an issue because it is working, is extremely worried about his job and that their union has dealt with it in a very poorly manner but too afraid to say anything because it would probably result in, my own words, a witch hunt, and not only by their union but also colleagues. I asked him if he was serious and he gave an example of a previous trip when a colleague of his had said that their union should meet with BA and almost the whole crew raised their voices against her and after that didn't speak to her for the rest of the trip. He said that even if he wanted to strike, but has no intention of as he too has volunteered (?) to work over the strike, he wouldn't be able to afford it and especially not after their taxation raise from next month (?) which apparently is the union's fault (?). He also gave examples of not getting any good paying trips and that he most of the time does nightstops (?) in the US, Africa and the Middle East. He hadn't been to Australia for 5 years nor anywhere near Asia for almost 2 years, all in 5 or 6 years of flying long-haul trips.
To me it sounds extremely worrying that staff cannot raise their opinion in fear of being bullied by not only their colleagues but also their own union. It is very dangerous if the union is playing this game with the risk of many innocent people loosing their jobs. BA should be extremely glad to have a crew member as this guy as he seemed to love his job more than anything else and I would hate to see him loose it.
This makes me think, is this the atmosphere BA staff has to face?