Lets hope for all our sakes this matter is resolved soon. BA may be on a winning streak with its army of volunteers happy to take our jobs - but god help BA if anything major happens to one of our flights with volunteers on it because that will be the end of the airline.
That is the point though isn't it. BA put together a first class contingency plan that took the legs off any strike action. It was helped hugely by the number of cabin crew who, having voted to strike 'to send a message', then decide that the basic practicalities like money, or the lack of it, neant that going in strike seemed a duff idea.
What happened was that the strike was a dismal failure. It didn't stop the airline. Maybe it is time that the membership sat down and thought about what they hoped to achieve by walking out. It would appear that their union leaders have established that the original cause has been lost, so what benefit now from continuing ?
I do worry about the mindset though of people who think that it would be terrible if an incident occurred on a plane with VCC on board. The situation is no different to having newly qualified crew on board. In fact in some cases, VCC are better qualified. I know of a number who are ex-cabin crew who are now working in other parts of the airline and have volunteered. There seems to be a widespread assumption that flights were soley staffed with volunteers. Not true. My understanding is that during the strikes, when VCC were used, they were always accompanied by full time cabin crew. In fact, the numbers of cabin crew who reported for work meant that an awful lot of VCC were stood down.
The other aspect is that assuming that if an incident occurred on a flight with VCC operating on it, that the result would be the end of the airline, that suggests a number of things.
1) That by going on strike, cabin crew are risking the airline going out of business and hence flushing their jobs down the toilet.
2) They are knowingly taking this risk. So in fact it would seem that they actively want the company to go bust and for them to have no job. Truly, turkeys voting for Xmas.
Hence my concern about the strikers' thinking. It seems to be totally suicidal.
It will be interesting to see if BA ask for doctor's notes for any claimed sickness over the Xmas period. I suspect that malingerers who thought they could 'get one back at the company' may be in for a rude shock.