However, with the power to act (vote) comes personal responsibility and the several thousand who have repeatedly voted for industrial action cannot be excused this.
I see where you're coming from. This situation is largely a problem of BA's making in that historically it has encouraged a culture where unions can use the threat of strikes and/or a strong mandate for strike action to force the company to back down. I wonder how many of the 9,514 crew that originally voted for strike action thought that the company would just give in?
Add to this a culture of dependency rather than personal ownership and accountability (let's not forget that there used to be 2 SCCM for every 1 main crew on a 747) and, to give BASSA some credit, they have done a remarkable job in positioning themselves as the sole source of the truth and create a "we're all under siege" mentaility by managing to twist every step the company takes as an orchestrated plot to crush BASSA.
Although BASSA have obtained a mandate for strike action that many other unions would envy, in the context of BASSA's historically high union membership and support, for them to have lost nearly 3,000 members and 4,000 votes is significant for BASSA. And as Mixed Fleet grows and EF/WW retire/leave BASSA is only going to get weaker.