Miss M said
A threat of a possible strike in the future will always have an affect on forward bookings. It's one of our strongest weapon. BA might be able to depart 100% of all WW flights should a strike occur. Customers however will not get what they are paying for. Flights crewed by VCC? VCC are not anywhere near the standards of some of us legacy crew. I have had the pleasure of working with some of them and I should certainly hope they perform better at Waterside or wherever they are based.
Clearly she hasn't seen the latest stats for September. BA carried more passengers this year than last and more in premium cabins. So much for strike threats affecting forward bookings.
BASSA going to go on strike ? Only if Unite let them have a ballot. And Unite won't do that because they know that the reason on the ballot paper links it to the previous walkout. BA could then not only sack strikers, they could also come after Unite for compensation. Now given Unite's dodgy finances having spent a small fortune first backing Labour in the election and then backing young Ed for the Labour leadership, plus all the cash they've splurged on this dispute in strike pay and legal fees, coupled with the money they need if they want a round of public services strikes, they may not have much in the kitty to pay BA as well.
If BASSA are determined to take action, Unite may just cut them loose. After all, BASSA aren't looking for a settlement, have cost the union a small bundle to date, damaged Unite's credibility at large by failing to mobilise mass support and could do further damage to the union by any continued action. Moreover, BA seem well placed to nullify the impact of any strike. Unite have bigger fish to fry.