Ah,
More "facts". Had your union paid even the scantest regard to what was going on in the wider aviation world you might have negotiated some agreements that were fit for purpose going forward in the modern world. I see the rest of your post is full of your usual assertions masquerading as "the fact is" etc.
Your notion that all ancillary staff outside of the management arena will be outsourced is fine until you deconstruct it. We outsource away from base as we don't need the infrastructure of an actual satellite of the main company there. So, in those instances, it is cheaper, in general to use another company's establishment. It's much more moot whether or not there'd be any mileage in that at LHR. The companies we outsource to have to make a profit on selling those services and we still have a HQ style infrastructure in situ at LHR so, for a fair time to come, I'd argue there's little mileage in outsourcing at base except where certain departments are so expensive in comparison to the other providers of their services. That's where more forward looking departments in the airline have realised that protecting their future lies in negotiating lean and forward-looking agreements. That doesn't include standing at Bedfont swearing at aircraft, nor does it include ex employees indulging in their passion for purple prose whilst acting as officers of the union.
You might wish to ponder the reality of what the "58 hrs" conversion training actually entails. The groundschool is 2 weeks in and of itself followed by a number (in double figures) of simulator details, followed by line training and route check. How many qualified trainers do you think we have, let alone trainers willing to train up their own replacements, or outsiders who are conversant with BA FCPM, FCTM and SOP? Also, it might be worth pondering how many sims BA have, let alone have access to in order to conduct training duties on the scale you'd need to enable you to feel proper schadenfreude, let alone those that are currently configured to represent BA aircraft. Might there just possibly be a tiny bottleneck in your assertion there?
Anyhow, off to work, I relish the prospect of another comprehensive reply when I land.
MrB
Last edited by MrBunker; 1st Aug 2010 at 20:23.