The press are determined that their position will influence the public's view as to whether they side with the management or the workers.
Oh look, more BASSA finger pointing. "It's the PRESS's fault that people don't like us!".
Wrong, people don't like you because you're a greedy, lying, selfish bunch of overpaid prima donnas who are manipulating your overly trusting members and holding passengers to ransom in a desperate attempt at hanging on to your excessive and poor value remuneration packages.
Let's just remember that, shall we?
"The management and the workers". This is why we call it 70's style trade unionism, and it's this neanderthal line of thinking that has destroyed so many industries and companies in the UK over the years.
Let WatersideWonker put a tick in their little Yes box. And let's see if they have the cojones to strike on day one and wave goodbye to their ST forever, and survive on the 30 quid a day they may or may not get from Unite (who after all could be facing quite a legal bill).
All of this is bluster and desperation.
It's funny how we hear the BASSA excuses coming out before the press does:
The Unite union is warning moves by British Airways to recruit staff to replace cabin crew if they go on strike, could put passengers at risk.
Staff will begin voting later on whether to walkout in a row over pay, jobs and working conditions.
The warning comes after a senior crew member told LBC they resuscitated a woman on a flight on Friday - after a doctor had said it was too late - because of their skills and experience.
I would ask the moderators lift the ban on this subject from the thread, since Unite are using it to justify their claims that passengers will be "at increased risk" due to volunteers not being as good at things as BA CC are:
Unite the union today (Monday) warned that British Airways' passengers could be put at risk if strike-breaking cabin crew do not have the experience to respond to emergency situations.
As BA begins its conversion courses for staff who work elsewhere in the airline, Unite says public concern will grow over plans to fast-track strike breakers as more emerges about the skills crew need to care fully for passengers.
The warning comes as one crew member reveals that last week a passenger on a BA long haul flight would have died were it not for the intervention, calm actions and dedicated care of the crew.
One crew member on that flight reported: "I'm about to collapse after a 16 and half hour day. We had one of the most serious medical incidents I have ever seen. A lady collapsed in the aisle, full plane. After 30 mins she fitted and died. We did CPR, defib (no shock advised) PA'd for a Doctor - amazingly a heart surgeon came forward. Stabbed adrenaline into the heart. After around 20 minutess (sic) he advised us to stop, ''She's dead'' he said. We replied that we have to continue for 30 minutess (sic). Four minutes later we got a pulse! We supported her for an hour, breathing for her until she was passed to medics on the ground and is now in a hospital. As far as I know she is alive, but very seriously ill.
"Even though the doctor gave up, we didn't; look at the outcome. Imagine if strike-breakers were there today? I am sure we would have lost a fellow human being. These are the things we and the public should be worried about. It will cost lives."
Praising the actions of the crew, Len McCluskey, Unite assistant general secretary, said: "Cabin crew's dedication and skill kept a person alive when others had given up hope. BA should have nothing but praise for its loyal and dedicated cabin crew whose first and last instinct is to care for passengers.
"Instead, BA resorts to intimidating them with macho threats to replace crew with vastly inexperienced volunteers. Not only does this show contempt for the crew, what message does it send to passengers who have paid to be cared for by a premier airline?
"Airlines are run by teams, but this cynical ploy will destroy industrial relations at the company for years to come and trash this airline's brand along the way."
Unite says that at the very minimum, BA cabin crew are trained to:
1. Deliver babies
2. Administer CPR
3. Administer Epipen injections to people who go into anaphylactic shock
4. Operate the Defibrilator for people who have suffered cardiac arrest
5. Take command of a life raft in a ditching scenario
6. Deploy survival techniques
7. Fire fight
8. In search techniques when bomb threats are received
9. In restraint techniques for disruptive passengers
10. In Pilot incapacitation i.e how to deal with a pilot who becomes unconscious.
Experienced crew have three months training. The union fears that BA's 21-day training programme for strike-breakers may not result in a confident, professional crew and will not support the team working a successful crew is built upon.
Unite has condemned BA's increasingly aggressive recruitment operation as an attempt to intimidate cabin crew out of taking industrial action to defend their jobs and conditions. The ballot for industrial action opens today and will close on February 22nd.
I assume everyone will have seen the subtle edits of the original post,notably the deliberate "tidying up" of this statement:
I PERSONALLY CANNOT THINK OF A MORE AMAZING STORY THAN THE ONE I HAVE JUST BEEN IN. EVEN THE DR'S GAVE UP. WE DIDN'T. AND LOOK AT THE OUTCOME. WOW. I'M SO PROUD OF ALL OF US TODAY. IMAGINE IF OFFICE STAFF (STRIKE BREAKERS) WE'RE THERE TODAY? I'M SURE WE WOULD HAVE LOST A FELLOW HUMAN.
Notice how
UNITEBA added the following words to this "story" from the BASSA member in question:
These are the things we and the public should be worried about. It will cost lives.
And you wonder why we call them LIARS!