British Airways vs. BASSA (Airline Staff Only)

[TopBunk]

May 24th, 2010 by admin

Day Eight
Our dispute remains unresolved, so Bedfont came slowly to life once more, this time with a later 8am start.
We faced different logistical problems, last time our priority was keeping people warm, this time the exact opposite. The seasons have changed but our resolve hasn’t.
It was absolutely scorching hot. Our facilities have been a little revamped, so the marquee is now able to serve hot and cold drinks and offer some welcome shade.
There was a different atmosphere this time around, we all felt it, not as frenetic and intense as our last time, more determined and a quiet resolve.
This time we have made a decision not to be drawn into a statistical war of words over percentages of percentages of percentages with the BA spin machine. It is simply counter productive.
The numbers of crew striking or reporting, for better or for worse, are what they are and nothing will change that, so we intend to leave that area alone.
We were pleased with the attendance on day one though numbers were probably a little down on the attendances of the final days of the last strike dates, this will either indicate that people recognise that this is going to be a long haul, so will pace themselves accordingly and spread their attendance or, some crew still haven’t woken up to what is staring them in the face and gone to work, nothing will change that now, so what will be, will be.
PLEASE READ THIS AND PASS IT ON
Mr Walsh has indicated his team is to “busy” to attend any peace talks with our General Secretaries until Thursday.
His strategy for this is being widely reported, as “testing your resolve”, if people are willing to break the strike, he knows he doesn’t have to move his position one inch towards a settlement, he can simply bide his time and impose, safe in the knowledge that people are just not interested. If the strike is solid he will need to compromise and reach a fair settlement. So your future remains in your hands.
Simple as that, what happens next is up to every single one of you due to report tomorrow and the days that follow.
*Unite General secretary Tony Woodley, will be attending Bedfont on Wednesday afternoon, please come along and meet him. This is your opportunity to talk with him and answer any questions that you may have on his negotiations with Mr Walsh.
Now where’s that suncream!

As I read it, BASSA know that they are losing the support of their members and therefore don't want to publish fugures that demonstrate the facts. Secondly, why no Derek Simpson appearance with Tony Woodly - could it just be there would be an uproar that would demonstrate the chasm within Unite since his tweets? The melee would send a much bigger message than anything TW could say and would be bad press for Untie, sorry, Unite. Where is Simpson btw, any guesses as to whether he will ever reappear in this dispute, gone and forgotten just like McCloony.