I do not see that BA management have been particularly effective over the years. Look at the c*ck up a few years ago with EWS - Engineers Want Spares. Look at the cost cutting - no hot towels in Club Europe. A little thing, and I doubt it saved much money. OTOH, I have found BA CC and ground staff far better than any of the other airlines I've regularly flown, with the possible exception of Qantas, who were OK, and Baboo, who are up to BA standard. AA have gone downhill over the last few years: they'd be LOCOS if the fares were lower.
I'm not convinced that either side in this dispute come out with clean hands. Now we hear about CSD and the like on on £40 -50- 60 a year. I wonder how many managers there are at BA on more than £60k plus perks? And what they do to earn it.
Years ago, there was an article in the Engineer magazine with an accountant who went into failing companies to turn them round. He said that if you had to fire people, you should start at the top. Firstly, that's where you save the most money per head disposed off, and secondly, these were the people whose mismanagement got the company into a mess in the first place....