Dawdler,
BASSA have been a recognised union at Thomson since back in the Britannia days and I have to say, in my experience, they were very good. Maybe the same can happen at LGW. It seems to me and please feel free to correct me if I am wrong, that the sticking point at LGW was always the fact that everything always had to be agreed by the relevant parties at LHR, be they BASSA or the Management. That seems to be changing now. In fact, whilst all this has been going on up the road, our reps have quietly sat down with the company and sorted out some of the issues surrounding one route in particular. I admit I was cynical at the start but I have to give them their due. From all accounts, they were professional, took our worries to the powers that be and got a result that was satisfactory to all.
For me personally, PCCC are a non starter for LGW, not only due to their extreme shyness but also because in my mind, they too are very LHR centric. I do know that the people behind it are dedicated, professional crew who care deeply about their jobs, colleagues and passengers but just as I do not understand their agreements and issues, they don't understand ours and that is always going to be a problem. This is not a criticism in any way. As a fledgling organisation, they have to concentrate on what they know.
I never thought I'd be saying this but maybe we need to give BASSA Gatwick a chance. Lessons have hopefully been learnt from all this. And if it does all go pear shaped, there is another large union that have offered their services!
