Oh dear...does rather sound like BASSA are after a spot of gerrymandering again. I wonder if Unite will allow them to cut short the period for balloting again if it is only in order for BASSA to have a window of opportunity for a Crimbo strike. Of course the irony is that the people who would benefit from a return of staff travel will be the commuters, but they are unlikely to get voting details in time if BASSA reduce the voting period, so are likely to be royally stuffed.
For a bunch who would have difficulty organising an inebriate party in a brewery, BASSA do seem to be remarkably adroit at ensuring ballot results go the way that the executive want. I especially liked the comment
Hopefully this delay will only be short. If, however this does put back our ballot more than a few days, we will have to consider reducing the amount of time the ballot runs for, as all of you are anxious for an outcome and all our subsequent options must remain open to us.
The options remain open regardless of the timing. The branch, provided Unite agreed, could call a strike ballot, just that they could not walk out over Xmas the way that things are going now.
I do wonder if Unite will allow BASSA to get away with only two weeks for the consultative ballot. What mandate will BASSA have if less than half the members cast a vote ? Of course, the other nugget that will emerge is the number of members in the union now. If that has fallen below 9000, it might be quite tricky for Unite. Certainly, if a large number of members votes get discounted because they were recieved too late but were in favour of acceptance, I can see that the membership will be slashed. We shall see...