In the event of the impending ballot resulting in a stoppage or a call-out, will BASSA/Unite dole out strike pay to its members? If so, how much and for how long?
LP,
IIRC they promised 30 pounds a day, for each day a member withdrew labour when they were supposed to be providing it.
Assuming BA stop all payments from the first date of strike, I would expect them to not pay a penny to any striker until the strike is called off.
(Assuming there is one, that is, given how high BA have raised the stakes now).
Interesting article from the Observer. It would seem that BASSA are blaming BA for the nascence of the PCCC (if that's the right word!), even though I think we've seen its origins on this forum.
TUC moves to build bridges after strike ballot derails BA peace talks
Brendan Barber holds talks with BA and Unite to establish basis for future negotiations
The TUC will attempt to rescue peace talks between British Airways and the Unite trade union this week after discussions over staffing cuts descended into acrimony.
Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, is talking separately to BA and Unite representatives in a bid to establish a basis for further negotiations over reductions in cabin crew numbers.
TUC-hosted peace talks broke into open conflict last week after Unite announced plans to reopen a strike ballot and BA retaliated by threatening to withdraw travel perks for flight crew if they joined a walkout.
The ballot of about 12,000 cabin crew affiliated with Unite's Bassa branch opens tomorrow, one month after the high court injuncted a 12-day Christmas walkout over voting irregularities.
Unite has also reacted angrily to attempts to set up an alternative cabin crew body, called the Professional Cabin Crew Council, which has emailed BA staff and asked them to vote no in the new poll. The email states: "The word is VOTE NO in the ballot. Then Professional Cabin Crew Council can pick up the pieces, and find a better way for everyone to safeguard all our jobs."
Steve Turner, Unite's national officer for aviation, accused BA of backing an attempt to "establish a breakaway union", and called on it to agree a deal.
"The majority of our workforce is female, middle class and from middle England. They are not militant. There is a solution to this and sooner or later BA will grasp it."
A BA spokeswoman said: "We don't comment on private correspondence between the company and its employees or other groups."
Tensions also emerged last week between Unite and Balpa, the BA pilots' union, after a number of pilots applied to retrain as cabin crew to help the airline operate its fleet during a walkout. The joint general secretaries of Unite, Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson, have asked Barber to discuss the issue with Balpa, which is not affiliated to the TUC.
Balpa's general secretary, Jim McAuslan, said the union had a "neutral" position on the dispute but admitted that some members would join training sessions that begin tomorrow.
"We understand a number of pilots have responded to BA's call for volunteers to keep the airline operating through any strike and from their postings it is clear that this is out of concern for their own futures and that of other employees," he said.
The respective BA and Unite presentations at the talks, seen by the Observer, indicate that both sides are some distance from agreement. The 11-page BA presentation emphasises proposals that would see new cabin crew brought in on lower pay and different conditions, working on an entirely separate fleet. As a trade-off, the airline has pledged to protect the pay and conditions of current crew.
The BA document describes the "New Fleet" crew as a "high-performance workforce". Unite views the proposal as anathema because it believes the strategy will be a Trojan horse for introducing a deunionised workforce that will ultimately become the main cabin crew body – something BA denies strongly.
The Unite proposal, entitled The Way Forward, agrees to introduce crew on new terms and conditions but stipulates they must work alongside existing crew. It also agrees to a two-year pay freeze.
Unite argues that the proposals could deliver cost savings of £100m per year, but BA is seeking a total of £140m and claims that the Unite plan will deliver no more than £56m.
BA is facing a two-year loss of about £1bn and argues that deep cuts are needed across all levels of the business to guarantee the airline's long-term survival, as well as tackle a pension fund deficit of £3.7bn.
A second proposal within the BA document appears to open up common ground between both sides by discussing an "integrated/flexi approach". Unite also describes its proposal as a "flexi" fleet but its negotiators have warned that there are significant differences between the plans, with BA's approach including changes to working practices for existing crew, including shorter gaps between outbound and inbound journeys for air stewards.
The strike ballot will close on 22 February and the first walkout could take place on 1 March.