British Airways vs. BASSA (Airline Staff Only)

[Caribbean Boy]

Employee Forum with Willie Walsh on 31 March

Here is what Willie Walsh had to say at this third employee forum during the dispute.

The operation had been successful and all promises had been delivered. He praised the cabin crew who had worked during the strikes and the support given by volunteers in the air and on the ground.

Here are some of the figures he gave.

Week 1
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60% of customers flown
78% of LH programme flown
50% of SH programme flown
21 or 22 wet-leased planes used
715 passenger flights
86,262 passengers carried
Cost: £7.5m per day

Week 2
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80% of customers flown
83% of LH programme flown
67% of SH programme flown
11 wet-leased planes used
931 passenger flights
118,575 passengers carried
Cost: £5.5m per day

Of the LHR and LGW crew rostered:
20 March: 57% worked
30 March: 73% worked

Corporate customers had all stuck with BA.

The contact centres had dealt with 453,000 calls, up 30%.

The strike pages of ba.com had had 3.1m views between 20-20 March. This had reduced the workload on the contact centres.

A survey of BA had revealed the following.
19% - enhanced view of BA
64% - the same view of BA
17%- a lesser view of BA

He acknowledged the importance of the 17% but said that there was no permanent damage to the brand.

He compared some figures with those of Unite's (BA's in brackets).
Wet-lease £14m (£3.3m)
Daily loss £15m-£20m (£7m)
Total loss £100m (£43m)

By comparison, it was estimated that the 1997 dispute cost BA £125m.

He revealed that he and Tony McCarthy (director of People & Organisational Effective) had met Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley last Sunday at the TUC. However, no further talks have been arranged.

Forward bookings were holding up well in April and beyond and do not appear to have been affected.

He was asked about new fleet. He said that it is a solution to cabin crew cost reduction. New entrants on new fleet will be separate from current fleet.

He was asked how he would recover the cost of the dispute from the IFCE budget. He said that he would not reduce his last offer to Unite as it would be unfair to penalise cabin crew. Instead, he would get cost reductions elsewhere, such as in facilities to unions, e.g. rooms, time off, etc.

Still on the current offer: he believed that it was fair and he would be willing to put it forward as the basis of a solution. However, the reinstatement of staff travel would not be part of a negotiated settlement.

He was asked about the maintenance of CRM. He said that he had had a heated discussion with Tony Woodley on the union's failure to deal with some crew. He said that any intimidation would not be tolerated and should be reported.

He was asked about how relations with cabin crew would be mended. He said that co-operation would be needed with the trade unions.

He was asked about suspended crew. He said that he would not interfere with the disciplinary process involving the 14 crew, and he would accept the outcome of the process.