Firstly, let me congratulate you on finding your way to the Guardian's comments pages. I note that there are several contributors there who are not inclined to share your views. I've yet to make my own contribution there. I also not that the moderators at the Guardian have pulled the plug on your initial contribution - I wonder why ?
Others may wish to peruse the article
British Airways divides workers over pay and perks | Business | The Guardian
Seems to be a fair assessment.
Back to the case in point. BA abandoning Waterside in favour of Madrid. Not going to happen. To start with, any relocation deal would be more than a tad expensive. Secondly, the IT infrastructure that BA has is far superior to anything Iberia has. BA has better selling systems in BA.com, uses far more of the Amadeus systems, both revenue management, sales, departure control etc. has more sophisticated operation control, planning, maintenance oh and crew rostering systems. Payroll systems are two a penny as are ledger ones, so the two companies are probably on par there but that is the only point where Iberia has anything remotely approaching the sophistication that BA has. You are probably also unaware that about 12 years ago Engineering attempted to set up their own IT arrangement with EDS. It failed as a number of the key systems simply couldn't be moved from LHR to Stockley Park.
BA is highly reliant on its IT systems, but the thing that drives them is the huge amount of business knowledge in the various departments. So even if you could lift and shift the systems wholesale to Madrid, without the experience in departments like IFCE, Operations, HCS, Rev Man etc. you would not be able to maintain them. If you can't maintain them, they are useless and you then have a rudderless ship. When I joined BA over 20 years ago I was told that the company had some of the most complex business processes of any major organisation. These were because of historic agreements with TUs, aggravated by a number of take overs and mergers combined with a highly complicated route network and aircraft fleet..That position has simplified slightly, but only slightly. Any attempt to simplify the status quo requires inordinate amounts of expense and the expertise of the current head office staff. So it isn't in BA's interest to up sticks and move to another part of the UK, let alone another part of Europe.
If you actually talked to staff at Waterside you might appreciate that there is a heck more to BA than what cabin crew offer. Cabin crew may be one of the many public faces of BA, but they are dependant on the rest of the organisation. BASSA clearly have failed to recognise that a company is the sum of its departments. No single department is more important than any other. The actions of one group of workers will affect all the others so if you want to succeed in any industrial action, you need to get the rest of the workforce onside. By denigrating those who have volunteered as crew, you further alienate yourselves, to the extent that many can't wait to see you get your P45s. Not exactly the approach to win friends and influence people. The BASSA committee need to grow up.