Studi,
Broke within a week? Not a chance. IAG has one hell of a war chest. We would have every right to strike for higher wages but not for people in another company which is what BMI would be if we don't integrate them with existing BA. I guess your argument is we strike after the integration is through then to improve things? That's where IAG are being clever by getting us to agree to this rather than just imposing it so we've no weapon to use later as any court in the land will point out we signed for this. And if we don't sign for it then, as I say above, BMI will be used to setup BA2 and we will have no legal right to strike on their behalf as they will be a totally different company.
The argument about replacements not being available is irrelevant because Willy can ensure no strike can legally happen to start with as I describe above. Either we sign up to this or he goes his own way with BMI. There is no middle ground that LEGALLY allows us to strike. We either dance to his tune on this one or BMI becomes the tumour that grows to subsume us in BA in the long run. At no point is there actually going to be a legal opportunity to strike on this one.
The nub is if we don't like what's on offer, it will never become part of our existing company so we have no right to strike.