This said, however, it is not all one sided. Mr. Walsh has agrivated the situation. He has fed false information about how much crew earn. The salaries quoted in the paper are those of the senior crew on the old contract prior to 1997. Crew that joined after that date earn less that 20,000 pa (which includes their allowances) Many of them have a basic pay of £12,000. He seemes to think it is ok to rubbish all of us and turn all our collegues against us.
I seem to remember that the figures in the press came from the CAA not from BA. Willie Walsh has never, as far as I am aware, publically given exact figures. He has simply re-iterated that BA Cabin Crew are amongst the best paid in the UK industry.
Please dont all hate crew because we are stuck in this situation and many, like me, who voted NOT to strike are powerless to do anything. Even crew who voted YES to strike are nice people (mostly). We would not be doing a job like this in the first place if we were not a caring bunch.
The majority of posters who post sensible, balanced arguments, not the one liner rhetoric spouters are actually firmly behind the requirement of Cabin Crew to have a pro active Union. The target of anger in most cases is not the Cabin Crew or the Cabin Crew community but the Union that seems to think it can crash the company and to hell with the rest of us.
BASSA is the target. BASSA refuses to negotiate. BASSA want to re-instate Reps who have been through the Union agreed disciplinary process and been found wanting. BASSA call the disciplining of members who post sensitive data on public forums and threaten other staff members or their families as 'victimisation'. BASSA move the goal posts when even Tony Woodley agrees that a settlement can be reached. BASSA misled its members into returning non valid ballot papers. BASSA lied about the state of the company and its finances to garner support.
The list goes on.
Nothing is, generally, on a personal level and never should be.
