There is a certain amount of truth in what has been said. I can't speak for the Pilot's Ballot, but....
.....the remaining Flight Engineers in BA (all 18 of us) have been shabbily treated over the whole affair. Our union, BALPA, have been in talks with the company for over 4 months now, trying to get some sort of severence / retirement deal out of the company. They have achieved the sum total of .... nothing.
We are not luddites. We knew that the days of the Flight Engineer was coming to an end as we were replaced by computers. We had hoped that we would be given a little bit of assistance as we were made redundant and headed off into the sunset, as it were. What we didn't know is that we would be discarded like so many pieces of scrap, in a manner that reflects no good on our managers, FLight Operations, and British Airways.
Anger on the Fleet is running very high. We (the Flight Engineers) have a final meeting with BALPA tomorrow, and we will be calling for a strike ballot. The Flight Engineers still flying the aircraft
WILL NOT allow BA to make a great deal of capital, media exposure, and money from all the special flights next month (October) if at the same time they are shafting us.
Watch this space.
