RV,
Thanks for the kind compliment.
Snas,
As BASSA appear to be making the very worst of decisions at every opportunity the phrase “never interrupt your opponent when he’s making a mistake” comes to mind.
Perhaps the PCCC has to do little more than exist at this stage?
I'm guessing the above was written somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I would agree with the sentiment if this was simply a fight between two impersonal entities. Unfortunately, though, inadequacies on the part of BASSA may easily translate into avoidable costs for some of its members.
I have no sympathy for the Union leadership. The kind of emotive attacks made on colleagues elsewhere in BA has probably done more to drum up volunteers than any number of appeals by Willie Walsh would ever have done. If a fraction of the effort put into their negative campaigning had, instead, gone into working with Unite's research department so that they better appreciated their negotiating environment, then they would probably be giving BA a decent game right now.
However, the people who will suffer from BASSA's inadequacies are those members who accept the Union position as presented. Unlike many on here, I do not criticise such an attitude. Members ought to be able to rely on Union advice without undertaking too much research of their own. That, after all, is why they pay fees to belong to the Union. They are, however, the people who will probably suffer most, ie if they strike enthusiastically. They deserve better representation than they have currently.