BA management are not treating us with respect
Like others, I do admire MissM's tenacity, however misguided it is.
There is a culture of entitlement, which I think has always existed, but is now more prevalent than ever here in Britain, which simply does not accept that with rights come responsibilities and that there is a difference between employees and management. Respect must be earned.
From my own perspective, I consider the dispute over, and lost by BASSA.
BA has won back the right to manage its own operations; if BA Management can be criticised it is for abdicating this responsibility over the course of decades post privatisation.
As DH's recent loss at the Employment Tribunal has proven, BA has followed procedure to the letter, and has demonstrated considerable restraint in the face of taunting, bullying and personalisation of a dispute which was always about power and control, and never about minor variations in working practices. This is most succinctly summed up by this image, which has graced the
. FRONT PAGE HOME PAGE website for over a year:
You can see the recent statement by Red Len that even he is cackhandedly attempting to engineer a solution which allows Unite to escape with some dignity.
This has moved far beyond BA's cabin crew to a political p*ssing contest.
It is clear BASSA's current leadership will NEVER settle, no matter what; they have no personal, professional or moral motive whatsoever to do so.
BASSA no longer has the capacity to impact the operation by withdrawing labour, similarly its strike threats have zero effect on the higher margin corporate customers who sustain profits, and minimal effect on the lower yield leisure travellers decision to choose BA; forward bookings remain encouraging despite the wider economic climate.
It's hard to see a way forward; I can understand scepticism about
PCCC – Professional Cabin Crew Council but similarly I can see no evidence that it is a management plot and it does seem that it would be a good thing if it gained the required 40% (?) to negotiate a new deal for those cabin crew who are already suffering a pay scale behind that which would be the case were they not a member if Unite.
BASSA's leadership is personally discredited, quite possibly suffering some from psychological issues, in some cases no longer employed by BA and needs a clear out.
The real question now is who from within BASSA's ranks has the ability and knowledge about BASSA to challenge the status quo, and whether they will have to wait until DH and LM's stated intention to resign and hold elections in October.