Ralf Stosser
... this modification of a staff travel concession does at least partly explain to me the strong distrust of the company by some and their resulting desire to gain contractual rights in certain areas.
If I was in their position, I might well do the same but the blunt fact is that every commercial organisation (particularly those with public shareholders) will seek to roll back any and every concession ever given. If one of the items appears to be costing the company practically zero - they will close it anyway 'just in case' and to add one more notch to their directors chair. Human beings do this.
It is particularly uncomfortable for those now in retirement as they are the post-war generation who worked hard and tried to establish a new world order - as someone once said! The economic basis for those decisions in the 1950s, 60s, 70s are all long gone, overturned and thoroughly trashed by the 80s and 90s, not to mention the ongoing current financial crisis.
In the UK, the NHS is another example of a good idea 60+ years ago that has not (yet) been adjusted to the modern era. Either the scheme must change or people's expectations of it must change for it cannot remain as planned. BA is in the same boat. Not nice but it is reality as BASSA has just discovered.