Originally Posted by
winstonsmith
The strike ballot is about the PRINCIPLE of imposition - imposing things and in this case it's about removing a crew member without negotiations. The court voted in favour for BA and even if it was perfectly legal to remove a crew member UNITE - and many crew - feel they shouldn't have done it without asking them for "permission".
I keep reading or hearing comments from cabin crew suggesting that any final outcome of this dispute will still be within the context of the way that IFCE is currently run. For example, that any new Disruption Agreement will be adhered to to the letter, or that Bassa will still decide whether an aircraft will go one down, or a crew are 1 minute over industrial limits so will get off the aircraft etc.
Similarly, the idea that BA will feel they need the negotiated agreement of Bassa reps to achieve change is now equally fallacious.
Cabin crew don't realise the scale of change that their reps' intransigence is going to leave them exposed to , now that Bassa have offered agreements up for scrutiny by the courts and have been trounced at every turn.
Watersidewnker called this a chess match. But as a result of playing this game so badly, effectively offering their key pieces up for the taking, Bassa have left the pawns defenceless, and without any tactics to move forward again. They will now have to rely on the good nature of their employer to avoid having what they have left taken from them. What a disaster for cabin crew.
If Bassa had negotiated effectively from the start, the changes would have been smaller, more gradual, and would have retained the concept that agreements are contractual and would have carried greater weight. Bassa would itself have retained its influence over matters in IFCE.
The only way forward now is for this strike to be defeated quickly (highly likely) and for cabin crew to then fundamentally reassess the way they work with the company. BA now have the mandate and the motivation to destroy any Ts and Cs they see fit, and the only option for cabin crew, if they wish to retain any, is to accept that BA can do what they want, and to sit down and talk to the company on the company's terms. It's now essential that they align the cabin crew's aims with those of the company, not to see them as two mutually exclusive concepts, which is how they work at the moment.
I don't believe Bassa or CC89 (do they still exist as an entity?) can do that. Their attitudes, aims, tactics and strategy have failed consistently. Cabin crew need to now accept that. They now have to regroup around a different leader and group of representatives, accept that change will be fundamental and universal, and work with management to create a working environment that is acceptable to both sides and fit to compete in the commercial world we're currently struggling in.
Plenty of Bassa members who feel they have no option but to support Bassa read this forum, (I've spoken to plenty). It's now time for you to accept that change will happen, that Bassa cannot serve its members' interests and that a complete change of direction is needed.