BA Seminar / BACC GMM
Hi Thick E,
I went to the BA seminar on 4th January at Waterside. There is another BA seminar with the Chief Financial Officer and all the Flt Ops managers on the 10th January. I would urge you to go to that seminar if you possibly can, or attend one of the ad-hoc manager's meetings in the CRC. You will then be able to put your point of view regarding the deal to them, and maybe find some answers to your questions.
The BACC have seen and accepted the BA financial figures; I put a great deal of faith in the current BACC and trust them to make the best of the cr*p hand they have been dealt.
The take it or leave it deal on offer is not very palatable, but to vote No to maybe call a bluff is a big call. A Yes vote means that BA will have 51+% of the LHR slots and that over 3700 pilots will be on one seniority list. It would then be more difficult, time and effort for IAG to set up a new airline in an airport so slot constrained as LHR.
Whichever way the vote goes, BA and BMI will effectively be integrated - we are really only voting on whether the pilot workforces are integrated. If not, there will be two IAG airlines at LHR bidding against each other for work; if BA Lite offers to fly A380s at a lower cost, they will be flying the A380s. For the BMI guys and new entants to BA Lite (there will never be any further recruitment to BA Mainline, just stagnation) the terms and conditions to fly those shiny new aircraft will be much, much worse than those available now if an integrated solution is agreed.
In summary, go to a BA meeting, or at least a BACC GMM to satisfy yourself that your viewpoint is absolutely correct.
Cheers,
Mark