This figure is obtained by subtracting the 10220 balloted in the most recent vote from the 12780 in the invalid vote twelve months ago._ Now there was something very wrong with that 12780 figure, because in the six weeks from 14 December 2009 to 25 January 2010 this 12780 dropped by a massive 1099 to 11691._ I do not believe that over one thousand members would have resigned from Unite in such a short time._ I can’t avoid jumping to the conclusion that most of these 1099 should never have been on the books._
Remember a lot of crew took (I think about 1,000) voluntary redundancy to allow the reduction in crew complements. The figure of 12,780 included crew who had left BA by way of voluntary redundancy, hence why BA got an injunction to block the strike.
Also, soundings are that the figure of 10,220 includes crew who have left the union.
At a rough estimate, BASSA and CC89 have lost at least 1,500 members during this dispute.
There may still be a strong alligence to BASSA (when this has been successfully cultivated by BASSA for decades it is not going to change overnight), but it has been weakened by a loss of members.
4,000 fewer crew voted yes to strike in the third ballot than in the first. That is a significant fall in support.