Hand Solo - Union Negotiator extraordinaire !
Nice one. I can see how the negotiations between BA and BACC are so protracted, because you can both twist meaning and content of expression so cleverly.
1. I would point out that the CFE routes, when operated by CFE were profitable. Now they ain't. Watching this forum over the last couple of years, it was clear that the 'deal' offered to CFE, did in fact, give most, (but not all, Harry) a pay rise. Conclusion, it was the Waterside addition to DOCs which primarily affected profitablity, as I suggested in my previous transmission. However, it is pretty obvious that if BACE started operating the RJs on their current route structure, under the BACE management and cost base, then these routes would instantly return to profit. You can quote politicking and operational efficiency as much as you like, but the figures relating to cost base (not PILOT costs alone) are the ones that are unarguable.
2. The current BAR guys, AS YOU WELL KNOW, are in fact already being retrained to fly the Rj. They will be collecting a massive supplement above and beyond the BACE blokes remuneration who will also fly it - not conducive to either industrial or flight deck harmony.
3. You use the term "poached" and again, instantly shoot yourself in your flying boot. If we truly all were to be one Company, then there would be no 'poaching', rather a progression - for those who wished it - through the Company's structure. If you have been with BA for a significant time as you quote, you must be aware that am initiation through Highland Division offered a far better balanced and experienced pilot profile than the chaps who transferred straight from Prestwick to the Airbus.
4. With reference recruits from the standard BA pool, you also know as well as I, this is currently a one-off due to management inability to plan properly, and is not a policy. Talk to the recruits, half of them have a weird idea they are here forever, and actually, they're correct, until the next change of mind.
5. In terms of the salary scales, and the differentials, there is a basic fact which has nothing to do with the ostensible difficulty of operating one's type. It is that a large aircraft makes a lot money, potentially than a small one, and the operator, to retain its pilots, is in a position to pay more. To suggest that an ATP pilot, or a J41 pilot is less skilled than a 7474 pilot is insulting - however to expect the same remuneration is ridiculous. This basic concept is transferable to the whole industry, and it is the attitude of BA longhaul with their route cherrypicking, and allowance structure which distorts things. If one were to define an allowance, obviously it is a compensation for missing something, be it a meal, a tea break, having to do a non-standard duty, like watching a fuel gauge during refueling etc. It would be most interesting to ask ANYONE, in any part of the airline industry, whether they actually use their allowances, or expect to turn a profit on them. As you well know, the main difference in earning potential between BA fleets is on sector length. OK, so thats a done deal, but lets not pursue the idiocy.
6. Whether you like it or not, this is a market economy. Plenty of pilots = surplus capacity = lowering of wages. Fortunately, the reverse is true, but not right now. Ignoring a basic law of economics is likely to hand a lot more routes than you like to think about both to GB and to us, it's pretty clear. Market forces dear boy, market forces. Yes, you can declaim stridently about strikes, and bringing the Company down - but........I wonder how many potential strikers and mortgage payers there REALLY are out there? You won't half do a lot for BACE and GB expansion if you go down that road!
7. And finally, protecting your job opportunities? Ah, I see. You seriously expect there to be lots of current, serving BA line guys who want to come and work in the regions? Yeh, right.
Apart from the fact that mixing two dramatically different pay and allowance scales on the same flight deck may just create a bit of an atmosphere, we know you are actually after a scope agreement which will affect BACE dramatically, in every respect. What it will NOT do is affect your BA line guys who will (they think) come and fly with us.
Reading between your lines is easy. You are basically divisive, and want an unrealistic world where everyone is on your package, even where it is unsustainable. All one needs to do is, sadly, look at what has happened to CFE. Marginal pay rises for most, a position at the bottom of your master list (which will only benefit the youngest elements) and a loss leading Company again. Well Done! Could this achievement, do you think, be responsible for the "RJ to the Regions" suggestion in the first place? I suggest BA might have been quite content to have left CFE where it was, making a positive contribution to the overall balance sheet had you not insisted on amalgamation, involving also the dead hand of BA commercial expertise.
Finally, multi tier pay rates DO NOT drive pay down. In fact, the opposite is true, as those on the lower tiers who wish to, try to move up the tiers, maybe to LHR (though why anyone should want to.......). Also, the better paid the upper tiers the better, as the lower tiers are dragged along like a jet pump, in the same way that the BA pay awards have traditionally been used as a benchmark by the rest of the industry. Nothing wrong with that either, and a lot good - but to expect that everyone in a Company gets the top rate lowers your credibility, and makes you a laughing stock with management. Never start a fight you can't win, old sport!, even if you expect a Pyrrhic victory.
The only real good points in this sad and tawdry little mess is that the actions of big BA, are, eventually, the best thing that could happen to BACX and GB and the other franchisees.
Thanks old sport, thanks a lot. I hope you enjoy your retirement watching what you have wrought!