BA Unofficial Strike ( Merged)
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BBC reports BA not so innocent
It is being reported by the BBC that BA were not as innocent as some would have us believe in last week's strikes.
It would appear that GG had been forced to drastically cut costs in line with BA's requirements and business plan. Result= GG nearly bust.
So, despite announcing profits, I think people are starting to seriously question how these profits were actually achieved.
It would appear that GG had been forced to drastically cut costs in line with BA's requirements and business plan. Result= GG nearly bust.
So, despite announcing profits, I think people are starting to seriously question how these profits were actually achieved.
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So whats's new?
Industrial companies put pressure on their suppliers, that's a fact of life.
If GG are (were) efficient they can keep the contract as competitors have to do better, not match GG because of the cost of change.
It's normall, try supplying the automotive industry (my last life), supermarkets (a previous life) or the telecoms and aerospace industries (current and previous lifes) it's just the same.
Perhaps GG management were either not confident in their business model (without Virgin?) or did not have the b*lls to stand up to BA. Who were going to replace them at a drastically reduced cost if they were efficient?
Industrial companies put pressure on their suppliers, that's a fact of life.
If GG are (were) efficient they can keep the contract as competitors have to do better, not match GG because of the cost of change.
It's normall, try supplying the automotive industry (my last life), supermarkets (a previous life) or the telecoms and aerospace industries (current and previous lifes) it's just the same.
Perhaps GG management were either not confident in their business model (without Virgin?) or did not have the b*lls to stand up to BA. Who were going to replace them at a drastically reduced cost if they were efficient?
Thread Starter
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You must listen to a different BBC...
British Airways says that it offered Gate Gourmet, the catering firm at the centre of the Heathrow dispute, a new more generous contract in mid-July.
It said the increased offer would have dealt with the financial problems of the company and have given them long-term stability until 2010....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4156216.stm
British Airways says that it offered Gate Gourmet, the catering firm at the centre of the Heathrow dispute, a new more generous contract in mid-July.
It said the increased offer would have dealt with the financial problems of the company and have given them long-term stability until 2010....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4156216.stm
Too mean to buy a long personal title
Carnage Matey!: Yes you do have to wonder, especially as the last flight I operated left with every seat, including jumpseats, occupied. Most of the premium cabins were full of upgrades. In fact most BA pilots I've heard from tell the same story, so one really must wonder where the newspapers are finding all these abandoned passengers 'cos from where I'm looking the no-upgrades policy simply doesn't exist in reality.
Take the following facts:-
- Reporter or passenger phones BA res (not airport) and asks whether, when he is rebooked into another confirmed seat, he can be upgraded if there is availability in a higher class.
- Reporter/passenger is told no, there is a policy of rebooking into the same class as originally booked so no upgrading on rebooking even if there is space in a higher class. (Which sounds fair enough to me for rebookings onto another date with confirmed space.)
- At airport, some aircraft leave with the odd empty seat because of last minute no-shows/misconnects for that particular flight, when there aren't enough standby pax available to get onto the flight at 10 minutes' notice.
Asymmetric reporting at its best.
I have read elsewhere that one pax was at one stage simultaneously rebooked onto four different flights to try to make sure he could get out. He was almost certainly going to no-show for three of them.
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And the empty seats may be going to a destination where the stranded passengers don't want to go.
Also after the mealy mouthed wordings of the TGWU over the last few days and today I quit the union. I'm not funding some tw@t and his cohorts attempts to wreck the company I work for.
Also after the mealy mouthed wordings of the TGWU over the last few days and today I quit the union. I'm not funding some tw@t and his cohorts attempts to wreck the company I work for.
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Baron Rouge
The issue is an illegal strike in a company that is not involved or in anyway at fault. There is an industrial dispute in GG it has nothing to do with BA they have no control over the GG management. Please do not compare this to the war in Iraq, one has nothing to do with the other. BA has lost a great deal of money through no fault of their own. Their customers have suffered as a result. You see this as affecting only holidaymakers because no doubt you buy into the bull the news agencies pump out to fill endless hours of television, there will also be many business travellers affected by the selfish and stupid actions of the BA staff, who went on strike.
You are worried about jobs! This strike will almost certainly cost jobs in the long run. Sadly, folks like you only see the short game! I would imagine right now BA are looking to find a new supplier and that will cost a lot more GG staff their jobs! Unions and their supporters never learn, no one ever wins when it comes to industrial action like this!
The issue is an illegal strike in a company that is not involved or in anyway at fault. There is an industrial dispute in GG it has nothing to do with BA they have no control over the GG management. Please do not compare this to the war in Iraq, one has nothing to do with the other. BA has lost a great deal of money through no fault of their own. Their customers have suffered as a result. You see this as affecting only holidaymakers because no doubt you buy into the bull the news agencies pump out to fill endless hours of television, there will also be many business travellers affected by the selfish and stupid actions of the BA staff, who went on strike.
You are worried about jobs! This strike will almost certainly cost jobs in the long run. Sadly, folks like you only see the short game! I would imagine right now BA are looking to find a new supplier and that will cost a lot more GG staff their jobs! Unions and their supporters never learn, no one ever wins when it comes to industrial action like this!
I am a figment of my own imagination
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Seem to mutterings about more BA strike action in support of some GG workers not being re-instated. Unfortunately having done it once with no come back they may well feel cocky enough to do it again.
Strikers who have stretched the boundries without any consequence generaly do it again.
Strikers who have stretched the boundries without any consequence generaly do it again.
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What concerns me as well about TGWU is that they threaten BA with strike action (legal strike action) if any of their members feel threatened or intimidated by BA management.
However, if BA had information that there was a possibility of intimidation of it's staff in the action last week would it not be duty bound to investigate. I feel that the union should take an active role in this as well as surely the TGWU would not like it's members victimised in any way, by management or otherwise and then the union would be able to see fair play. As it is we see the usual b*****k brained posturing which helps nobody.
However, if BA had information that there was a possibility of intimidation of it's staff in the action last week would it not be duty bound to investigate. I feel that the union should take an active role in this as well as surely the TGWU would not like it's members victimised in any way, by management or otherwise and then the union would be able to see fair play. As it is we see the usual b*****k brained posturing which helps nobody.
Good points, Diverse.
So is it the case that whilst the TGWU claims not to condone the illegal actions of its members (but doesn't/won't/can't stop them before they go ahead), it refuses to allow BA to take appropriate disciplinary action thereafter becuse it involves these poor dears feeling threatened. Next time I get pulled up for speeding on the M4, I'll just tell the nasty police chaps that I feel threatened and victimised by their stripey car and blue uniforms and expect them to apologise & disappear forthwith...
Unfortunately, each time BA shies away from confronting these jerks it makes a recurrence that much more likely and the eventual showdown that much more bloody.
So is it the case that whilst the TGWU claims not to condone the illegal actions of its members (but doesn't/won't/can't stop them before they go ahead), it refuses to allow BA to take appropriate disciplinary action thereafter becuse it involves these poor dears feeling threatened. Next time I get pulled up for speeding on the M4, I'll just tell the nasty police chaps that I feel threatened and victimised by their stripey car and blue uniforms and expect them to apologise & disappear forthwith...
Unfortunately, each time BA shies away from confronting these jerks it makes a recurrence that much more likely and the eventual showdown that much more bloody.
Last edited by Max Tow; 19th Aug 2005 at 12:28.
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There was a time when a Government actualy realised that this union gun to the head had to stop. Historicaly of course the pendulum swings, unfortunately never seeming to pause or stop at a point which is fair to both sides.
The present legal mechanisms for arbitration appear to be useless and pointless unless adhered to by both sides which in the case of GG they were not nor in the following action by the BA strikers. They should face penalties having caused major distress financial and otherwise or the laws are not even worth having
The present legal mechanisms for arbitration appear to be useless and pointless unless adhered to by both sides which in the case of GG they were not nor in the following action by the BA strikers. They should face penalties having caused major distress financial and otherwise or the laws are not even worth having
