The real issue here is nothing to do with the merits of blinds down or up.
It is about the need for new, fully flexible open contracts similar to those worked by most of the rest of humanity which say the company has bought "x" amount of your time and that for an agreed remuneration you will come to work, do whatever is reasonably required of you well, expeditiously and cheerfully and at the end of the day go home feeling you've done a good day's work. The BASSA view, similar to old heavy industry unions, is that every aspect of what people do should be subject to union control, remain described in minute detail so that anything new or outside it is "not agreed". It is what strangled many other British companies and industries (and the people working in them) while ironically the unions which presided over this live on, even if in merged form. The idea of pride in your work, in your company or your workplace viewed is seen as alien and in some way undesirable. Individual's enthisiasm and initiative is also trodden underfoot. Happy employees do not make good fodder for traditional unions who see anything not specifically pre-agreed is seen as "new work" and a horrific imposition and the basis for their beloved ongoing aggravation and trench warfare.
A lot of people in BA, including many cabin crew, want a new future and are happy to change to have the best chance of securing one (bearing in mind that nothing us guaranteed in the 21st century ). They do not want the heavy hand of BASSA or anyone else on their shoulder saying "Don't do that, don't even pick up that bit of litter or we will give you a hard time".It's time for BA's staff to stand up and tell BASSA/Unite to get off their backs and let them enjoy their jobs without the constant background noise of misery.