Real concerns
Hi everyone. I am new to the forum - I have been watching from the wings for a long time but now I feel I have to say something I am just so disallusioned with my crew colleagues. I find this forum to be be very informative and balanced and above all sensible. The BASSA forum is just full of very blinkered and sometimes downright rude people and it really scares me how nobody seems to even mention the terrible state the airline industry is in right now. I would be really interested in your thoughts on my post.
I have today returned my strike ballot with a NO vote and first thing Monday morning I am resigning from BASSA. I would also like to assure you
that if I am rostered to work during any strike I will
report for work as normal as I feel I must do everything
in my power to support our customers and my company. Even
though I am very scared of what repercussions I can expect
from those who vote YES.
I am absolutley fed up with all of BASSA´s
scaremongering, of their quite frankly, very juvenile
communication, and above all their absolute refusal to
negotiate properly on my behalf. I cannot believe that
they will not budge on the crewing level changes and are
insisting that IFCE reinstate said levels. They seem
hellbent on destroying this company and risking my, and
indeed all of our jobs in the process. I cannot understand how they
can ignore the terrible state the airline industry is in
as borne out by the recent IATA figures which clearly show
2009 as the worst year ever for the industry in terms of
demand - let alone the fact that we as a company are heading for our worst loss in history.
We are losing money daily and yet their ludicrous
answer is to increase costs by demanding the crew levels
are reinstated with laughable suggestions as to how to
implement this.
I feel a strike now would be utterly catastrophic for us
as a company, for our reputation with our loyal customers,
and of course for our finances. I cannot believe that
BASSA is blindly leading its members to this fate.
I will be honest with you. I voted YES before
Christmas. I really did feel that it would be a way to
force negotiation. I hoped it would not come to a strike.
Now I know that I was wrong and I should have thought more
before I made my decision. I was appalled by BASSA´s
cynical move of calling for 12 days of strikes over Christmas given the misery that would cause to thousands of families let alone the financial
cost to our company. We were not warned this
would be the case - had I known this I would certainly
have voted NO.
I feel so stongly that BASSA has squandered chances of
negotiation time and time again. IFCE have put some good
terms on the table and all have been rejected it seems.
I am very proud to work for BA. Most of the time I
really like and enjoy my job and I like to think that I am
quite good at it! I do not agree with all of the cost
saving measures so far introduced but I totally accept
that we must save money if we are to survive. I do have concerns
about New Fleet but again I accept that it must happen and
I dearly wanted BASSA to negotiate all they could on its introduction so
as to protect my current earnings. I can see that (my
preferred option) to have New Fleet fly along side
existing crew could be very problematic to administer but
at least BASSA could have tried to talk about that instead of this
suicidal insistence on crew complement reinstatement.
I am 100% behind working harder but keeping my current
earning potential and current terms
and conditions, days off etc. What is so
wrong with wanting to work for the best paying and most
respected airline in the UK? I have worked to the
new complements several times now on Eurofleet. They are
doable! I just wish my colleagues could see
that too.
But now I am so worried that I will lose all my current
terms and conditions because of BASSA´s refusal to see
sense and that I will be tarred with the same brush as
those who choose to believe what they are spoon fed by BASSA.
What do you guys think will happen to people like me if there is, as I
unfortunately and really sadly suspect, another YES
majority and the strike goes ahead? BF said in his
recent letter:
If the majority of you choose to support our customers and
reject a strike, I will continue to offer these
assurances. They would allow you to:
Keep your current individual terms and conditions
Keep your current basic pay, with 2%-7% increment rises
this financial year and next for 75% of you
Keep your average variable pay through the offer of a
monthly payment
Keep flying an unrivalled network of routes and staying in
quality hotels while you’re there
Keep lifestyle choices, either by changing fleets at
Heathrow or transferring to part time
Keep a commitment from us to keep talking with Unite about
how we recruit new crew
Keep full union representation with an offer from us for
Unite to represent future crew.
But that is only if a majority say NO and reject a strike.
Will I, and many others like me who care about their job
and their colleagues´ jobs and about this company, be
penalised because of ill informed and militant strikers?
It seems so unfair to me that I will perhaps lose my
current terms and conditions and all of the above
assurances even though I voted NO and worked normally and
with pride throughout a strike if it goes ahead.
thanks for listening