I'll repost this after checking thoroughly for the 'correct' text.
Take whatever Bill Francis offered you with a pinch of salt - they will change whatever they want to change and do whatever they want to do. The only thing that could possibly stop them doing that would be a strong Trades Union and thats almost a thing of the past.
Where in the CC Contract appears the clause 'contract for life'? Is it a bit like a Hugo Chavez contract?
Managers have to re-negotiate their own contracts, often on a yearly basis, based upon previous performance but the CC should be protected and cosseted all their life? This is not a nationalised company any more it is privately owned so the quote:
BA is not here to 'protect' nor 'look after' anyone - it is here to make money.
Should not come as a surprise to anyone.
Contracts are made to be re-negotiated as market circumstances change. Most unionised groups throughout BA have been very successful at long negotiation thus enabling change over a long period. Sadly BASSA have failed their membership in this and whilst it seemed for many a year they they held the high ground with their aggressive stance all it meant was that the final correction would be all the more painful. Welcome to the final correction. Agreements are put into the contracts to enable them to be changed at short notices without the total re-negotiation (that word again) and re-writing. They may appear in a contract but, as the court case proved this year, are NOT legally binding.
The only thing that could possibly stop them doing that would be a strong Trades Union
And didn't Len McKlusky do exceedingly well protecting the 'contracts' of his previous 'bothers and sisters' in the Dock industry in Merseyside? He protected them so well that the whole docks industry collapsed due to being totally non competitive and the contracts vanished into the wind in the dole queue of the 1980's.
Lets look at Tony Woodly? Member of the TGWU which led 'negotiations' in the protection of the workers employed by the beleagured British car industry, an industry that needed radical reform to survive the onslaught of the Japanese car manufacturers. Once again a total failure to negotiate meaningfully and a demand to the strict adherence of the 'old contracts' led to the industry collapsing.
So here we have two pillars of the Union community both still employed on nice salaries (they'll be losing child benefit) after totally destroying their respective industries with their 'all for one, one for all' rhetoric.
Quote from Len McKlusky:
"Capitalism has failed," said Mr McCluskey last year. The state, he said, should "intervene where necessary through industry control and ownership".
I would love to see them try to pull BA back into the national industry which would lead to the collapse of the airline as EU rules do not allow state subsidy of airlines. But Len would know that wouldn't he?
BASSA and Unite are terrified of losing the grip on the reigns of BA that they have managed to acquire over the past 20 years. BASSA aren't interested in the individual any more they are aghast that their bullying, yes bullying, approach to negotiations, using the 'nuclear' option from the outset, has failed.
There is a core who will constantly believe that they can hold on to the past as it is their right and, personally, I feel sorry for them. The only way to protect future contracts is through progressive, structured and adult dialouge with the company. The time of BASSA is past.
Hopefully that now contains nothing to 'derail' the debate.
Thanks
