Folk need to stop clutching their pearls and get over their nostalgic Daily Mail tinged view of British Airways as some sort of national treasure. Our AGM is held in Madrid and conducted in Spanish.
I may not like some management methods but I do recognise we need to adapt and evolve as.a business or go the way of the dinosaurs.
That means our World Traveller and Euro Traveller Brands need to compete against 'lo-cost', as they are cabins chosen by cost sensitive customers.
We also need to pay for hard products that today's customers demand; new aircraft, improved IFE and wifi connectivity don't come without a cost.
Euro Traveller BOB (buy on board) gives the budget sensitive traveller a choice and for those who are willing to pay the extra we offer other Brands - Club Europe, World Traveller Plus.
We are investing £400 million in Club World on top of a newly designed seat and I am proud to have been selected to be part of the team involved with these changes.
We need this to be a success and our Leadership Team need to accept that part of that success will be engaging the Cabin Crew as stakeholders, not treating them as a dehumanised unit cost.
Back to the topic, Mixed Fleet are not asking for anything outrageous. They are asking to be paid the same hourly subsistance rate as our Flight Crew colleagues. They go to the same destinations so why should they be paid less?
If Mixed Fleet go on strike then Unite will provide them with Strike Pay, during Dispute 2010 Legacy crew received strike pay so this is nothing new.
I genuinely hope this Mixed Fleet Dispute 2016 is amicably resolved, as it is not only damaging to the Brand it will see Mixed Fleet's camaraderie damaged.
Sadly folk on Legacy Fleet still have the scars of Dispute 2010, Industrial Action is not something to be taken lightly and that's why BASSA's recent IA over the new performance management 'Dashboard' was a 'work to rule', rather than pressing the nuclear option.
It resulted in a positive outcome with both sides quickly back in talks negotiating and the membership accepting the new proposals. We are now in negotiations with our employer over other matters, which I hope are as quickly and amicably resolved.