I think this is more about spin and presentation than anything else. You have to remember who the BASSA updates are for - their own membership.
BASSA are locked in what they believe is a life and death struggle with BA and that Willie is set upon destroying them. They have run a series of lack lustre strikes that have not achieved their goal of forcing the company to cave in to their demands. They see that the strike has cost their members money and staff travel benefits and that they are no further forward in their aims. This is now a "marathon" - well that maybe true and if it is BASSA must ensure that the support that they have remains solid.
These missives are aimed at the XXXXers, they are an attempt to keep them onside. They are moral boosters designed to make XXXXers feel like they were part of a mass movement, that 7000 out of 9500 members of BASSA took strike action. If they were to let slip that there was only 3500 members who had the courage to risk their jobs and ST despite many more voting for strike action, they run the risk that what support there is will start to crumble. DH is writing for an ever reducing core of stalwarts - he has to keep them onside or it is all over, and the defining event of DH's career will have been the emasculation of BASSA, he will have overseen the demise of his own union. This is something he and BASSA has to avoid at all costs - hence the purple prose.
There is also, I suspect, an element of incompetence as well. BASSA has a track record of inefficient book keeping and poor data base maintenance.
Last edited by Juan Tugoh; 4th Aug 2010 at 11:55.