It is hardly surprising that we have on the one hand strikers claiming that solidarity to the cause is hardening, yet the evidence all suggests the opposite. It is without doubt true that there is a small minority of BASSA members who have taken the "we will not surrender" position, and I'm sure that their resolve is as strong as ever. However it is also true that every strike period sees BA rack up their schedule at LHR by another 5% or so. Just recall that the 1st strike saw service reductions at LGW, and LHR operating only 777's on long haul, and the short haul routes that did fly mainly carried out by 18 wet leased planes.
To a certain extent BA's pool of VCC's is reducing, as many of the pilots are now back in the cockpit, and not pushing a trolly down the aisle, for this to happen the crews have to come from somewhere, and they can't all be hastily trained staff members.
The last thing that Willie Walsh needs now is a botched compromise return to work. BASSA have caused huge disruption over the past few years with their strike threats, of course they claim that this year is different, and they haven't walked out for many years, failing to mention the strikes which have been called off one or two days before they were due to start, when BA had already incurred the significant costs of transferring passengers to other airlines, cancelling bookings etc.
BASSA's membership drops by a few more every day, yet all that Duncan Holley can talk about is samosas and bouncy castles. Meanwhile Tony Woodley gives a speech to the TUC conference claiming that the unions have changed from their militant past, if this were the case it might have been better to have omitted words like "scab" and describing csd's on £50k as "comrades"