Courtesy of ian100 at Flyertalk a message from BASSA issued yesterday. If it has been previously posted I will happily delete.
They don't sound optomistic.
Time to wake up and smell the future...
During the 7 days of our industrial action, those that grasped the enormity of what we all face took action and came to Bedfont; those that didn’t went to work.
By "backing BA" it has allowed a change so big to come about right under people’s noses, that many people could not - or will not - simply believe it.
The nature of that change?
The culmination of a three-year plan, as reported in the Guardian to crush the union that protects you -that aim has now been all but achieved.
On Thursday of this week Duncan Holley, the secretary of our branch, is going to be dismissed over an on going disagreement with British Airways, over derostering for undertaking union duties on your behalf.
Today the few reps that attended a briefing from Tony Woodley heard an update on any progress he had made and to finalize arrangements on how your opinion could be sought via an electronic ballot. British Airways chose to not deroster any reps to attend and indeed insisted that any who were able to attend would have their basic salary deducted.
These are hardly the actions of a company seeking to achieve negotiated peace, instead they are designed to be as provocative and confrontational as possible.
They could not send a clearer signal of their intent, if they tried. At the same time they also have revealed that Branch Chair Lizanne Malone will also be the subject of a disciplinary along with Amicus Convenor Blair Veakins.
Without being rude if this does not tell you anything, then we may as well give up...and that means ALL of us.
We are now getting to the point where it is difficult to believe that we can ever find a solution to the current situation. Things now are so bad that they will simply never be the same again.
No matter how hard we try to negotiate to improve the situation, things just seem to go from bad to worse.
As you already know, we have been supporting Tony Woodley as he has tried to find a fair and reasonable solution and to bring a welcome peace within British Airways. To be fair, he has worked incredibly hard to try and make that happen. His intentions were honourable, and he did his best to obtain a proposal for you to consider. Later this week you will be asked your opinion via an on-line ballot.
Against this approach it would appear that determined elements within British Airways’ management, far from wishing to "meet us half way" and achieve any kind of resolution, simply appear determined to be as deliberately antagonistic as possible.
Crew members continue to be dismissed and others suspended as we try to find a solution to the outstanding fifty plus dispute related disciplinaries. The very reps that are working with Tony Woodley on the solution have been refused release to work on it. "Do it in your own time or don’t attend, your choice" was the BA flat response.
Until last week, we have not been approached or asked for an alleviation of any kind since summer 2009; we were simply not asked, they simply believed it is their right to break any rule they wished, when and wherever they wanted to. All agreements are now meaningless. As a result of the volcanic ash the disruption agreement was requested and happily and promptly given to assist in repatriating crew and passengers. Then, out of the blue an "alleviation" was requested to operate a Hong Kong service with reduced rest but with a threat "if you don’t give the alleviation, we will use strike breakers". The "threat" was unnecessary as a positive response was again given within the time scale.
A request to reduce rest on an ad-hoc basis for other "mercy" flights for the next two weeks was also asked for and in the circumstances would have been given.
Their recognition of this cooperation? To assemble a crew of "strike breakers" from retired crew and ground staff and operate the flight - 12 crew, 13 hours rest, £2.40 an hour.
Friday’s Delhi? Same again! A positioning "strike breaking volunteer crew" who would operate the return inbound flight, with just eight crew- they consisted of four ground staff, two temps. Two "normal crew" were called off QRS. These "real" crew were booked into economy, the volunteer/strike breakers? Club of course.
Over the entire weekend "strike breaking ground staff volunteers" were rostered in pairs to a wide number of flights, to fly with "real" crew.
Many of the Euro fleet crew who returned to base after being away up to twelve days, were then expected to report for duty the next day. BA were of the opinion that the crew had achieved the appropriate days off whilst marooned down route.
Quite simply this is how Bill Francis has been instructed to do business. If we are not all prepared to stand up for ourselves then we best all get used to it and quickly.
Temp crew and volunteers continue to fly along side regular crew, on a different agreement and on an hourly rate and different days off, while our own crew sit at home unused and on 24 hour availability.
If people don’t wake up and see what’s happening right under their noses and how the wording of this agreement is so important to them, then they never will. Bill Francis is building on his vision of the future and whether we like it or not, we are all going to be a part of it, one way or the other.
Your union has been effectively shut down now for months and if things do not change, will remain so. We no longer have any meetings with British airways on any subject. We no longer have a say or a voice. Our offices has been sealed closed and shut down and lets be honest here, so has your union.
Backing BA?
That’s exactly what some people have done; backed BA in their ambition to destroy their union and with it, any hope of their own future job security - if they do not wake up pretty soon, it will be too late.
During the last strike days, we even had the ludicrous scenario of people who had chosen to break the strike, ringing our emergency phones asking us to complain to BA that they, BA were breaking their agreement!
Is this really how out of touch some of our community have become?
Worried about new fleet? You should be - it’s growing right under your nose. So believe us when we say that if you don’t support your union now by remaining united, by standing firm to secure a meaningful deal the future looks very bleak. If an agreement cannot be reached then regrettably more strike dates will have to be announced. If we fail then the job as you know it is over.
At the end of the day, we represent you. If you’re not that bothered, fine, we will stop beating ourselves up trying to protect you from something that worryingly doesn’t seem to concern some of our community.
Please stop leaving it to those with the strength and courage to support themselves, their union and their colleagues. Thousands of you, our members, selflessly sacrificed their trips and their earnings - some people lost up to two weeks of basic pay and their staff travel for the good of others, not just themselves - and for that Unite is immensely proud and grateful for their sacrifice.
If a deal had been achieved, it would have been bought about by their bravery. If we don’t get a solution, then quite simply it will be because too many people "looked after themselves" and broke the strike and so encouraged your management to believe that this is "the way forward" and is acceptable to the crew community.
If you are not one of the brave crew who supported us at Bedfont, and by taking action then what did you do? Do you feel proud of yourself?
Bottom line?
Please Do your bit before it’s too late, or simply sit back and enjoy the ride, but remember this, it’s going to be a wild one. Our conscience is clear...is yours? We have screamed from the roof tops for a year, exactly what will happen to cabin crew in the future.
If this warning continues to fall on deaf ears, you won’t have to wait too long to see it become reality...just glance at your next crew list.