M4rx, welcome to the debate; a reasoned and thought out response.
Firstly, I can assure you that the vast majority of pilots, (99.999%) do not want to destroy cabin crew. We have a very good working relationship, and in a lot of cases, personal relationships with crew. However, a very large proportion of us, who are in the position of being able to stand back from this dispute and take in the whole argument, seeing both sides, are firmly against the BASSA position, and feel, if anything, that it is the hubris, arrogance and one-upmanship from your very 'leaders' in BASSA, and the political games that are being played out at Unite HQ that are going to 'destroy cabin crew'
You make lots of points that I would love to discuss, but I am short on time, so I will just come back to this old chesnut
Originally Posted by m4rx
But should my salary be cut by a third after 20 years because it is alleged that a starter at virgin earns less
BA is not asking you to take a pay cut. - They have even gone to some lengths to protect your pay. They can't legally take your pay without a change of contract anyway.
the only people who have offered a paycut are BASSA and they didn't even ask the crew if that is what they wanted.
This whole strike has nothing to do with pay, however, I'm sure Liz Malone would like to muddy the waters and make it so.
I don't know you, but I will take a guess, and say that you would probably be in the majority group of employees who would rather work a little bit harder, and hang on to your pay which you work hard for. Am I right?
The sad thing is, if BASSA had actually negotiated, and come to a settlement back in the summer, you could have just had the crew complement changes, and that was it. Pay protected, box payments protected by an average payment (and no, it doesn't include meal payments, you still get those, and no, Miss Malone, dividing it by 365 days and 24hrs a day to get some low number isn't going to fool anyone). Protection from New Fleet, and even discussion as to how it would or would not come about.
As well as this, you could have had the share scheme that was on offer to everyone, I think there might have even been some extra staff travel tickets on the table at one point. None of this stress, none of the 12 days of Xmas, none of the public vilification, all the VR people getting what they wanted, 1000s and 1000s of your colleagues getting the part time they desperately wanted, already spending more time with their families or studying or pursuing other business interests.
When you look at the position you are in now, that initial offer of just getting on with the 'one down' (now you have seen it's not that bad at all) suddenly looks rather good. I think a lot of people now get the feeling they are being herded down a one way street towards a mincing machine, and are looking back over their shoulders thinking it suddenly doesn't seem like a good idea. However, you are being marched down this street with the likes of Malone and her kitchen-fitting-cronies bringing up the rear with a pistol pointed at your back. No dissent or questioning is allowed, you are being marched to your doom.
The sad thing is, the people marching you towards your untimely demise have totally lost sight of the realities of the situation. It has become personal now, it is Malone v Walsh and who has the bigger metaphorical balls. It's no longer about what is best for crew, it's personal interests and posturing, and that is the saddest thing about this whole sorry affair.