hahahahahaha
As far as I was aware the BASSA committee acted upon the wants and wishes of the community as represented by the crew members who attended the many branch meetings and duly voted by show of hands. I don’t recall any abstentions, or no votes at any branch meeting. If you can’t be inclined to attend to cast your vote, can you really reasonably complain that your, seemingly isolated opinion, be representative
Whilst accepting that the crew community as a whole STILL voted to strike in a secret ballot, the "show of hands" to which you refer was hardly a free vote was it? Would anyone really have dared raise a dissenting hand? We only need look to the public outing of a certain CSD by DH to see the fate that would have awaited them.
Secondly, I reject your assertion that BASSA did not negotiate.
Simply an opinion. The courts disagree with you. "Meaningful discussion" would be a more relevant phrase to use - and BASSA didn't do this either. I asked one of our Reps what the plan was at the start of all this. "Say 'No' until the recession is over. Wait it out" was his reply. Bluff was duly called by WW.
If I’m honest, I feel that BASSA actually gave to much away. It’s clear as the crystal to me whom was the party refusing to be reasonable in my view. I suggest you review the settlement documents released by BASSA in order to resolve this dispute, concession after concession were made, none of which were acceptable to company. In €€my view, my reps offered more than I would have been prepared to offer, however I recognise they did this in good faith.
Again, the problem was that the changes were temporary and simply a "loan" to get BA through the worst. NOT permanent and NOT meeting the cost-saving target. The "Ah but we were only £10m short and shhhh, but it's only temporary" argument was why BA said "No". Quite simple, if you strip it down.
Can I suggest, the next time you fly to ask your flight crew colleagues one question. If they were to be denied the right to transfer between fleet and base, would they accept that imposition. Of all my flight crew colleagues I’ve asked, the answer has always been no. Therein lies the answer to why I decided to stand up for my rights and why I will continue to support the individuals increasingly victimised, to represent me.
No rules regarding this were changed in the first proposals. BA wanted permanent cost-savings from us, that's all. Allegedly we were striking against the "imposition" of working with less crew, NOT against MF (which didn't exist!). As of now, the courts say that BA were legally entitled to impose such a crewing change. The introduction of MF and the barrier that prevents us transferring came later - as a direct consequence of failure to negotiate meaningfully. You were NOT striking over this and it's quite worrying (yet common) that you believe you were.
We are where we are due to BASSA leadership and the ill-advised voting by it's members. We'll all suffer for that though!
