I find this hard to deal with. VS pilots complaining that Virgin wants to "bust" their union, yet BALPA remained "neutral" when hundreds of its members at BA volunteered to work as cabin crew, in a dispute that was all about union busting.
Beardy says it all in his blog. He is obviously "hurt" that his pilots might strike, even though working in a fun place doesn't pay the bills. Why should a VS 747-400 pilot earn less than a BA one?
The reason why, is that for years VS had a steady supply of retired BA Captains who were happy to earn a lower wage at VIRGIN, as they had their big, fat, BA pensions to top them up. Now that the retirement age is no longer 55 at BA, that stream of pilots has dried up.
Virgin do not want to talk to BALPA as they rather the association did not exist. All I say to the VS pilots is to study what BA management attempted with its cabin crew and how their union and the reps were treated, to view the similarities with your own dispute. There is a blueprint here that management of some companies is adopting:
1. You provoke a strike
2. You quickly defeat it and the union.
3. End of collective bargaining.
BA's cabin crew much to their credit, overcame this assault and war of attrition through a principalled and tenacious resistance, that Willie Walsh said he would win.
VS flight crew must be ready for all that will be thrown at them.
Last edited by Count Niemantznarr; 27th Jun 2011 at 14:29.