VCtenderness and Bettygirl. I can confirm what you have said is true.
Here is the latest from Bassa
You can't please ALL of the people ALL of the time.
Yesterday, the possibility of further industrial a_ction came a step closer
as Unite announced an intention to shortly ballot cabin crew.
The controversial last offer is now a thing of the past, its time has been
and gone. A fresh perspective is needed. However, a solution still needs
to be found and one that will be acceptable to you, and one that we feel
positive in recommending and that you will feel positive in accepting.
This will be Lenny McCluskey's first challenge and one that we intend to
fully support him in achieving a successful conclusion.
We understand how easy it is to become disillusioned with things; our
struggle has been going on for a long time - a year to be exact - we are
all human after all and your reps are only human too. It does require
patience, strength, determination, but above all "sticking together".
This can sometimes be easier said than done!
It is only natural that there are a wide range of opinions on what should
have happened and when, or what should be done next.
When we were considering putting the last offer to you for ballot and
asking for your input, we received emails from members threatening to resign "if we dared to send out such an insulting offer" yet also from members who "couldn't believe that we would dare to NOT ask their opinion in a ballot" - in other words we were damned if we did and damned if we didn't!
However, that is now in the past, the challenge now is in what lies ahead.
There is still a willingness from this union to resolve matters but this
will not be on our knees. The time available must now be spent in agreeing an offer that could prevent further disruption to British Airways staff and customers; they must spend the time doing exactly that, not preparing for a strike. Any future offer must also be one that a trade union can, in good faith, put forward with our whole-hearted recommendation. If it isn't then the outcome will be strike action.
Everybody is an expert and everybody would do this or that differently; in the end we must keep it simple and do what we feel is the right thing to do. It is also only right to give you the opportunity to make up your own mind on whether you wish to take industrial action.
The bottom line is what this means for you; we now have a culture of
rampant fear within IFCE, people are genuinely frightened when they come to work, scared if they say the wrong thing they will be suspended. All pretence of management honouring our agreements is gone, mixed fleet is already here; it's sink or swim time now for the remaining years of your career. We urge, not for the first time, British Airways leadership team to come to their senses and to also do the right thing. Recognise that bullying and intimidation do not work; we are a strong and determined community and we will never give up this fight until we have won our respect back, no matter how long it takes.
Existing cabin crew are in a "fight for our own survival" we have no
alternative but to carry on with this fight until our future is secure,
otherwise we simply do not have one.
This is not a time for ill thought out sensationalism or opportunist
"politicking", but for clear heads and clearer thought. What is important is what can be achieved, what it will mean, and to not lose sight of what is still important; this is NOT just about staff travel, it is ALL about safeguarding your future - it's where it began and it will end when, and only when this has been achieved.
We need to be concise and clear. The areas of concern that must be
addressed in any future offer are listed below and MUST be the foundationfor any future settlement.
1. Pay offers are normally across the whole company; we want
confirmation that the increase for cabin crew will not be LESS than in any other area - so far this has been refused.
2. Mixed fleet is here, it will grow, routes will transfer into it -
this is your working life-blood. NO routes = NO work. There has to be an agreement on how this would happen. British Airways want to move routes to mixed fleet purely based on their "commercial needs". No consideration of the type of work being moved or its impact on current crew (length of trips, type of trips, days off, earnings) would be factored into this.
These things must be taken into consideration; so far this has been
refused.
3. Top up payment - we asked all along this to be classed as "lifetime" and/or "contractual", again thus far this has been refused.
4. Proposed changes to the employment policy must not simply be to allow British Airways to introduce changes that will be worse for you and make it easier for people to be sacked, a harsher sickness policy, a reduction to only one appeal (currently two) if subject to a disciplinary.
These will only be the tip of the iceberg; there is also a whole raft of
other proposed changes that could adversely affect you. No trade union should accept this.
5. Redeployment agreement - British Airways is trying to remove this cornerstone of security; if your area is closed or has no work, your historic pay protections and right to redeploy on protected conditions must be maintained.
6. This dispute has led to many injustices, if these are allowed to
remain, BritishAirways - and indeed any other UK employer that followed their example -could set a dangerous precedent, allowing employers the right to punishpeople for taking lawful industrial action. To concede that staff travel may be removed at any time that management wish or that it is acceptable to lose basis pay for days when people were sick during industrial action and even for days when no industrial action even occurred is plainly wrong. These go against all the principles of trade unionism, let alone basic human rights.
7. This dispute started because long-standing agreements were broken. We need assurances that this would not carry on into the future.
Agreements need to be worth the paper they are written on, otherwise what "agreement" would be next? Without trust and respect you have nothing, and at the moment cabin crew has neither.
8. We all want a better way of working together, but the planned
changes to the facilities agreement - the very foundation of how your union represents you - must not be a thinly disguised mechanism for management to dismantle every right that your union has, a charter for management to do what they want, when they want. Our offices have been closed down and our reps refused access to meetings for nearly a year: it's time this wrong was put right.
9. ACAS involvement in dispute related cases is positive but there are no guarantees as to the outcome. Good people have been sacked for trivia; this is not right, these are our friends and colleagues, they deserve better. We will not leave them behind, as you wouldn't wish to be if it was you. Honour is priceless but fragile.
10. Last but by no means least - we must bring about a "true peace". Any "deal" must not simply be a means to dismantle and disarm cabin crew resistance, resulting in everybody being fair game to the bullying and fear that pervades too many flights; where people can no longer speak their mind, laugh or joke, let alone be the diverse and colourful community that we once were, so somehow we need to find a lasting and sincere ceasefire, or our fight will go on...
At the end of the day, we are a trade union and we make no apologies forthat; we are not a branch of management and never will be, nor are we trying to portray ourselves to be what we are not. We are here to try andmake your life better, not worse; we have been clear with our message ofwhat will bring peace to the cabin crew community, it's time for British Airways leadership to do the same.
What planet are they on - not this one for sure. Still think THEY are in charge.
As an aside, my wife received a letter from Unite today to ask if her address and other details were correct for the upcoming ballot. She left Unite 6 months ago
I'm sure I'll get mine on monday.
Also a friend of mine did SEP recently and when the CS trainer went through the uniform regs with the crew, the toys were thrown out of the pram by a number of crew. My friend said it was all done in an unassuming and professional way, yet these crew thought it was ALL pathetic
What I find very interesting in all of this is how lots of crew love to play the 'victim' card. I flew with a lovely young girl a couple of years ago who had worked for a LoCo for a time. She couldn't believe this culture in BA where some crew tried their utmost to get out of anything that THEY perceived as hard work or something that was unjust in THEIR eyes. She said they would last no more than a week at Ryanair or EasyJet. When I asked her why she thought this was, she replied that in BA there was NO FEAR. No fear of a manager, SCCM, scheduling etc. She made it VERY clear that she didn't mean 'managing' by fear like eg. a lot of charter and Middle East airlines do. She just said these people felt they could do anything on their agenda as if any problems arose, then Bassa would sort it. She was so right.
With the bad weather this week, it reminds us all of the watershed moment when a couple of years ago Bassa demanded that all the crew who had diverted on longhaul have their 48hrs off, throwing everything into chaos. Now i fully realise that this was the 'negotiated' agreement from MANY years ago. The simple fact was that NOW neither BA nor the crew wanted it, yet Bassa INSISTED that it remain in place. It would no doubt have remained so to this day any beyond if things hadn't changed. So, thanks Bassa for ruining it for ALL of us. If only they had got real, who knows where we could be now