I actually don't agree with it as a strike busting initiative,
Of course the creation of the VCC's was a strike busting initiative, it is silly to suggest otherwise. The idea came about as a result of the desire of BA employees to do something to minimise the effects of the industrial blackmail that BASSA were embarking upon.
The idea was first floated when the abortive 12 days of Christmas strike was announced. It is hard to think back to those days, but the public outcry and massive indignation of the majority of BA staff about BASSA's completely unreasonable behaviour was immense. Had BASSA been able to organise a legal ballot at this stage, it is likely that the strike may well have been effective. It was as a result of this realisation that lead BA to try to both harness the desire of it's own workforce to do something and also a desire to neuter the BASSA threat. They did this by creating the VCCs.
Trying to claim that the VCC program was created to deal with disruption such as snow and volcanic ash, etc is at best disingenuous, the VCC's are a strike breaking tool pure and simple. It may be that BA keep the VCC program going and use them to help with other disruptions but that is a secondary thing, the VCC's are there to neutralise the strike threat from a historically bolshy union with poor negotiators.
What the BASSA supporters need to realise is that BA has every right, and indeed a duty to it's shareholders to minimise the effects of a strike - defying a strike is just as much part of the industrial landscape as striking. The stupidity of suggesting that it shows a "lack of respect" is self-evident, a strike is ultimately a thuggish act of blackmail and will only work if the threat of closing the business can be carried through. Those that think BA should sit back and not react to their union's strike are deluded.