A few points regarding attempts at post-event rationalisation/rewriting history:
1. Can we please drop the tasteless (and very familiar from a recent industrial dispute) references to a "holocost".
2. It is worth recalling that the VCC programme was only launched after BASSA announced 12 days of industrial action over the Christmas period. An act which completely squandered any support/benefit of the doubt for cabin crew. I would surmise that (and the fact that every other department was doing their bit to make savings), more than anything else, prompted support for the VCC programme, not envy of the cabin crew role, nor pilots. And I doubt anyone realistically thought that by volunteering as VCC they were gaining special protection or the right to call in a favour from the company.
3. The 12 days of industrial action was of course stopped by a court injunction. Aside from this being a blessing in disguise for all, the reason why BA obtained an injunction was because of the not insignificant errors of BASSA balloting circa 1,000 members who weren't eligible to vote, BASSA Chair Lizanne Malone giving incorrect advice on eligibility to vote, and BASSA going ahead and calling a strike even though it had been given warning of voting irregularities.
Most might say that the injunction against the 2nd ballot wasn't justified, but BA doesn't make the law and if it's advised that the industrial action can be stopped by an injunction, it has a fudiciariy responsibility to do so.
4. There is absolutely no doubt that at the time the company was facing very severe trading conditions with a very large fall in long haul premium traffic revenue and not tackling the cost base simply wasn't an option. Anyone who thinks that the company was pulling a stunt should look at BA's financial accounts for the year ended 31 March 2010. In that financial year the company had to contend with a fall in revenue of £1bn. In spite of this, to give management some credit, they managed to keep the operating loss broadly constant. This was thanks in part to a £600m fall in the fuel bill. If fuel had gone the other way, there was every possibility the company could have gone bust or lost the confidence of creditors and investors. And if the latter happens things can spiral out of control very quickly.
You need only look at the announcement Thomas Cook made to the markets late last year about the state of its finances and the effect that had to see how confidence in a travel business can easily be lost.
Now back to the bmi integration.