BA staff walkout @ LHR
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Let me tidy up a few misconceptions here.
Money wise, Customer Service Agents are not poorly off.
- BA do not have the option to put out to tender the check in process at LHR. Major international airports at best, have a duopoly for all services such as Dispatch, Catering and check-in etc. Most of these duopolies are epitomes of price fixing. If BA were to put out to tender the check in process, it would not provide the cost control that having it 'in house' would provide.
- All this talk of minimum wage check in staff is getting a bit boring. Their wage equates to around £7/hr, which is a long way off minimum wage. Check in staff not only have the perk of staff travel, they also have the 'know-how' to use it to full effect. I have lost count how many times I've been told that my free firm will be unconfirmed to XYZ again. One never hears of C.S.A's not getting on the the CPT for the fourth year running with a firm seat. So £1000's of travel each year at the fraction of the cost. All this adds up to a basic salary that could be equated to £15-£20,000 p.a.
- Final Salary Scheme pension
Money wise, Customer Service Agents are not poorly off.
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Land ASAP
I have sat and read for a long time - since my original post on the evening that this all started.
Whilst I am in agreement with nearly all your comments, as a Corporate Travel Agent, I have to comment on your value of free travel.
When I started in the industry in the 1968 - yes, I'm dating myself - I thought that the perks were great. The only problem is that they do not pay the mortgage, nor do they get taken into account by the bank or the building society when you are looking for a loan or a mortgage.
Having said that, they do allow you to see a lot of the world for a vey small price. Travel Agents no longer find a value in their AD75 tickets, as it is normally cheaper to buy a low publsihed fare.
From this point of view I would agree that checkin staff are poorly paid, but probably no more so that the basic travel agent, or many other people in this country. As with myself, they have a choice. If they do not like the wage then they can move on elsewhere - I'm sorry if this upsets others, but it is the honest truth.
I am tired, as are so many travellers, of being seemingly held to ransom by airline and other staff in countries around the world. If it is not the French taking action then it is the Italians or the Greeks or somebody - with all the hassle of having to spend extra hours in the office trying to arrange reroutes, reissues etc for no extra pay.
Scottie Dog
(who also retreats and takes cover waiting for the blast)
I have sat and read for a long time - since my original post on the evening that this all started.
Whilst I am in agreement with nearly all your comments, as a Corporate Travel Agent, I have to comment on your value of free travel.
When I started in the industry in the 1968 - yes, I'm dating myself - I thought that the perks were great. The only problem is that they do not pay the mortgage, nor do they get taken into account by the bank or the building society when you are looking for a loan or a mortgage.
Having said that, they do allow you to see a lot of the world for a vey small price. Travel Agents no longer find a value in their AD75 tickets, as it is normally cheaper to buy a low publsihed fare.
From this point of view I would agree that checkin staff are poorly paid, but probably no more so that the basic travel agent, or many other people in this country. As with myself, they have a choice. If they do not like the wage then they can move on elsewhere - I'm sorry if this upsets others, but it is the honest truth.
I am tired, as are so many travellers, of being seemingly held to ransom by airline and other staff in countries around the world. If it is not the French taking action then it is the Italians or the Greeks or somebody - with all the hassle of having to spend extra hours in the office trying to arrange reroutes, reissues etc for no extra pay.
Scottie Dog
(who also retreats and takes cover waiting for the blast)
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Paterbrat
I've read the thread very well and have noticed that not many posters actually work for BA - as I said before I haven't met a single member of staff at London who does not support the check-in staff.
There are sections of the airline that do a lot of different things - for instance Engineering have electronically swiped in for many years, but now management, without any consultation, has decided that staff must swipe out and do all their admin electronically. Most staff are refusing to use the new system and I have heard that in some departments the 'out' button has been pinched off all the swipe machines. It basically comes down to lack of trust of the management - by introducing a system that has annualised hours built in they should have tried to convince staff that they were not going to try to introduce that by the back door - they have patently failed.
Anyone can withdraw their labour at any time - however by going on an unofficial strike you lose certain protections.
Wrong again - the timing was precisely of the managements making, they decided to introduce this system at this particular time against the wishes of the staff.
exrotarybooty
The unions were taken by surprise as much as the management - Amicus is notoriously out of touch with the feelings of its membership - but I think they are getting the message now
Scottie Dog
If you don't like the job can I suggest you do as another poster has suggested
Oh sorry, that was you
"...I have yet to meet anybody who does not support the check-in staff..."
You obviously don't get out much, and have ignored many on this very thread, so possibly haven't read it very well.
You obviously don't get out much, and have ignored many on this very thread, so possibly haven't read it very well.
Are there not already sections of the airline that swipe in?
" Staff are exercising their right- to withhold their labour..."
Thought this was governed by the Labour laws of the country?
Thought this was governed by the Labour laws of the country?
Thought about it seized a time chose for max impact and then went ahead without regard or attempt for arbitration.
exrotarybooty
Where were they before this, and were their fingers on the pulse of the people they represent?
Scottie Dog
I am tired, as are so many travellers, of being seemingly held to ransom by airline and other staff in countries around the world. --- with all the hassle of having to spend extra hours in the office trying to arrange reroutes, reissues etc for no extra pay.
If they do not like the wage then they can move on elsewhere
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Scottie Dog,
I shall rephrase it then. £13,000 per annum plus £3-4,0000 of travel per year at a 90 to 100% discount (depending on length of service).
How many people do you know, outside the travel industry, who earn £13000 per year that go on holiday twice a year to destinations that don't quite make it into a Thompsons brochure?
I shall rephrase it then. £13,000 per annum plus £3-4,0000 of travel per year at a 90 to 100% discount (depending on length of service).
How many people do you know, outside the travel industry, who earn £13000 per year that go on holiday twice a year to destinations that don't quite make it into a Thompsons brochure?
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LAND ASAP,
Ummm........ I think you are being a bit unfair!
I guess you are on pp 15 (ish), so that your basic (~84K) + allowances (say, ~16K) indicates a take home of roughly 100K. --- I bet you couldn't manage on 13K per annum!
Could you?
Ummm........ I think you are being a bit unfair!
I guess you are on pp 15 (ish), so that your basic (~84K) + allowances (say, ~16K) indicates a take home of roughly 100K. --- I bet you couldn't manage on 13K per annum!
Could you?
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LAND ASAP,
Your views and experience of staff travel seems diametrically opposed to mine
I really could NOT mirror your £3-4000 per annum, infact even with my "bookable" or what ever they are calling it this month I really do not see it working out to that much a benefit
Your views and experience of staff travel seems diametrically opposed to mine
I really could NOT mirror your £3-4000 per annum, infact even with my "bookable" or what ever they are calling it this month I really do not see it working out to that much a benefit
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Jet II I'm just back from five days work and I can tell you I've met plenty of people who don't support the strike. They include my colleagues on the flight deck, lots of cabin crew, a couple of dispatchers, an engineer and most of the staff in Ops trying to pick up the pieces of the weekends chaos. The only person I met in that time who voiced strong support was someone who used to work check-in in T1, and even she couldn't give me a half-decent justification for an illegal strike.
The management decided to introduce the system on Tuesday, the staff walk out the previous Friday disrupting weekend travel plans???? Why not walk out at noon on Tuesday, or Monday morning? This actions timing was entirely the doing of the strikers.
Wrong again - the timing was precisely of the managements making, they decided to introduce this system at this particular time against the wishes of the staff.
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looks like engineering could be next.....
all the bods working for b.a should stick together on this one,unless you are of the higher paid group,have a cushy number,or a spineless/useless manager...........in which case you'll have the "im alright jack" attitude that is the disease within b.a..........
good luck all............
all the bods working for b.a should stick together on this one,unless you are of the higher paid group,have a cushy number,or a spineless/useless manager...........in which case you'll have the "im alright jack" attitude that is the disease within b.a..........
good luck all............
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Nah....
I won't rise to it PeePeerune. Your obviously just a wind up merchant, you haven't really added anything of worth to this thread in any of your posts. You clearly don't know much about BA or you'd know exactly where the 'I'm alright jack' attitude prevails - you'd be very surprised. Though I did note with interest you never replied to any of my questions, or indeed that of Carlton Brown the FO, particularly about the 'Flying School' comment. Speaks volumes about you, enjoy your wind up!
I won't rise to it PeePeerune. Your obviously just a wind up merchant, you haven't really added anything of worth to this thread in any of your posts. You clearly don't know much about BA or you'd know exactly where the 'I'm alright jack' attitude prevails - you'd be very surprised. Though I did note with interest you never replied to any of my questions, or indeed that of Carlton Brown the FO, particularly about the 'Flying School' comment. Speaks volumes about you, enjoy your wind up!
Eight Gun Fighter
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To the BA folks involved in this escalating situation.
Are you currently working under the auspices of a collective agreement? I'm not aware any of you are working with expired contracts.
This is a contract. Working terms and salaries are enshrined within it. Some aspects such as how to clock in/out for shifts may be extra-contractual matters - i.e. adminstrive, not spoken to within the contract.
I am somewhat astounded. In this country you work within the terms of your collective agreement until it expires. If you feel the collective agreement is contravened, you file a grievance and follow the process for grievances as set out in the collective agreement. You don't just do what ever the hell you feel like at any old time. That is anarchy and in industry of any type - a beginning of the end. However badly you feel done to, there is a need to follow the rules you originally agreed to and act in a professional manner. So, if you really want to shoot yourselves in the foot, you're aim is very good do far. You have shown utter disregard for your customers and your unions have not helped bring things to a sensible resolution, they have just jumped onto the bandwagon, late, and with questionable motives.
Personally, couldn't care less about BA except for all the jobs(read people) that could very well be lost, resultantly and the extra business that would go to other airlines, messing with my staff travel.
A lot of BA staff need a real reality check.
Sits on helmet.
Are you currently working under the auspices of a collective agreement? I'm not aware any of you are working with expired contracts.
This is a contract. Working terms and salaries are enshrined within it. Some aspects such as how to clock in/out for shifts may be extra-contractual matters - i.e. adminstrive, not spoken to within the contract.
I am somewhat astounded. In this country you work within the terms of your collective agreement until it expires. If you feel the collective agreement is contravened, you file a grievance and follow the process for grievances as set out in the collective agreement. You don't just do what ever the hell you feel like at any old time. That is anarchy and in industry of any type - a beginning of the end. However badly you feel done to, there is a need to follow the rules you originally agreed to and act in a professional manner. So, if you really want to shoot yourselves in the foot, you're aim is very good do far. You have shown utter disregard for your customers and your unions have not helped bring things to a sensible resolution, they have just jumped onto the bandwagon, late, and with questionable motives.
Personally, couldn't care less about BA except for all the jobs(read people) that could very well be lost, resultantly and the extra business that would go to other airlines, messing with my staff travel.
A lot of BA staff need a real reality check.
Sits on helmet.
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hand ..... i am not a wind up merchant but i can understand why you think i am,but i am afraid that i am just trying to bring to light the probs within b.a and i am afraid that this is really whats going on. b.a are wasting thousands on employing bods that really have no idea on whats going with b.a's business strategies let alone the aviation world.they are all to often coming up with stupid cost saving ideas and then brining in labour consuming processes that we pay third party companys to develop........wheres the business sense in that???......
can you honestly say that they have not tried to screw you over at some time,or brought in labour intensive tasks that affect your job that are not really necessary???
can you honestly say that they have not tried to screw you over at some time,or brought in labour intensive tasks that affect your job that are not really necessary???
I am a figment of my own imagination
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Jet II your attempts to justify sadly do keep getting shot down by posters who appear to be certainly more conversent with the issues than myself. You still singularly fail to convince me, but then I am only a customer who has always tried to travel BA whenever I could because I thought it was the best and had high standards.
I am certainly of the opinion that management has some questions to answer, but I still have yet to be convinced on many of the points raised and generaly unsatisfactorily answered by those on this thread who support the unofficial walkout by the counter staff.
The rather sad efforts of Peeperune arouse feelings of pity with his valiant efforts to rally support for 'the cause'. Definitely a touch of 'some day comrades the workers will unite' and 'come the revolution'.
And I there I had gone and thought those days were over.
I am certainly of the opinion that management has some questions to answer, but I still have yet to be convinced on many of the points raised and generaly unsatisfactorily answered by those on this thread who support the unofficial walkout by the counter staff.
The rather sad efforts of Peeperune arouse feelings of pity with his valiant efforts to rally support for 'the cause'. Definitely a touch of 'some day comrades the workers will unite' and 'come the revolution'.
And I there I had gone and thought those days were over.
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from the economist.com
T is always a bad omen when a business calls in the police to protect its staff from their customers. So when a cordon of bobbies formed in front of the British Airways check-in desk at Heathrow's Terminal 4 on the afternoon of July 21st, passengers who had been waiting for several hours—or in some cases several days—to board flight BA223 to Washington, DC, sensed that something was up. They included aposse of irate American golfers, and your unfortunate correspondent.
Officially, things were getting back to normal after a short, unofficial strike by around 250 BA check-in and sales staff, who walked out last weekend in protest at the introduction of an electronic clocking-on system. The staff say the system will enable managers to fiddle with shift patterns. Maybe it will. But it will also allow managers to use staff more efficiently and to put a stop to skiving that currently goes undetected. The walk-out obliged BA to cancel around 520 flights and divert some to other airports.
BA may well be in the right in the clocking-on dispute. But its reaction to the strike, which combined duplicity and incompetence, was abysmal. Its website and help-line assured passengers throughout the day that normal service had been resumed—an illusion that was dispelled as soon as they drew up in the airport car-park. Thousands of people were being held outside to prevent a crush, and most had to squat on their suitcases. A couple of marquees had been erected. Harassed staff distributed sandwiches and drinks. The airport chaplain wandered around looking even more forlorn than the passengers.
Inside, it was worse: the sandwiches were free only for travellers who had been waiting overnight. BA223, it transpired, departed after only a relatively short delay, but it left what seemed like most of its passengers behind: by the time they were admitted to the terminal the schedule and crews' rosters obliged it to take-off. So it went half-empty. Then they were left to stew for hours, as bucks were passed, the police were called and management hid. Eventually they were told to collect accommodation vouchers outside, which turned out not to exist. Then they were packed off to hotels, unsure when they would get to go home or on their holidays.
Most of those in the queue and the car-park bore all this stoically; some even seemed to be enjoying the un-British camaraderie and the chance to exhibit a little Blitz spirit. But nobody was keen to fly BA again, or to recommend it.
Like other airlines, BA is still recovering from the combined squeeze of September 11th, the economic downturn, SARS, the Iraq war and the march of the low-cost fliers. It has led the way for other European carriers in, for instance, adopting the low-cost carriers' web-booking systems to offer a range of flexible fares. At off-peak periods on short-haul routes, BA is sometimes as cheap as the low-cost competition.
The clocking-in system is a tiny element in its survival plan, which also involves broad restructuring and deep job- and cost-cuts, and had seemed to be working. In the past two years BA has slashed one in four jobs—about 13,000 in all—without a whiff of labour trouble. Last summer, side-effects of this were showing up, with a shortage of ground staff routinely delaying departures at Gatwick by one hour most afternoons. There have been some warning signs this year, with a high rate of sickness causing the airline to hire in aircraft and crew to fill gaps. Rising absenteeism is a sure sign of stress in an organisation that is contracting. But the big mistake was to introduce a new working practice at the start of the summer quarter when the airline makes all its money.
The previous chief executive, Bob Ayling, never really recovered from a strike by cabin crew in the summer of 1997, which hit the airline's reputation and profits very badly, although he lasted nearly three more years. Today's tougher market means the stakes are higher and the game is quicker. The airline's shares fell 5% at one point on July 23rd after the current chief executive, Rod Eddington, observed that the strikes could have cost tens of millions of pounds in revenue.
T is always a bad omen when a business calls in the police to protect its staff from their customers. So when a cordon of bobbies formed in front of the British Airways check-in desk at Heathrow's Terminal 4 on the afternoon of July 21st, passengers who had been waiting for several hours—or in some cases several days—to board flight BA223 to Washington, DC, sensed that something was up. They included aposse of irate American golfers, and your unfortunate correspondent.
Officially, things were getting back to normal after a short, unofficial strike by around 250 BA check-in and sales staff, who walked out last weekend in protest at the introduction of an electronic clocking-on system. The staff say the system will enable managers to fiddle with shift patterns. Maybe it will. But it will also allow managers to use staff more efficiently and to put a stop to skiving that currently goes undetected. The walk-out obliged BA to cancel around 520 flights and divert some to other airports.
BA may well be in the right in the clocking-on dispute. But its reaction to the strike, which combined duplicity and incompetence, was abysmal. Its website and help-line assured passengers throughout the day that normal service had been resumed—an illusion that was dispelled as soon as they drew up in the airport car-park. Thousands of people were being held outside to prevent a crush, and most had to squat on their suitcases. A couple of marquees had been erected. Harassed staff distributed sandwiches and drinks. The airport chaplain wandered around looking even more forlorn than the passengers.
Inside, it was worse: the sandwiches were free only for travellers who had been waiting overnight. BA223, it transpired, departed after only a relatively short delay, but it left what seemed like most of its passengers behind: by the time they were admitted to the terminal the schedule and crews' rosters obliged it to take-off. So it went half-empty. Then they were left to stew for hours, as bucks were passed, the police were called and management hid. Eventually they were told to collect accommodation vouchers outside, which turned out not to exist. Then they were packed off to hotels, unsure when they would get to go home or on their holidays.
Most of those in the queue and the car-park bore all this stoically; some even seemed to be enjoying the un-British camaraderie and the chance to exhibit a little Blitz spirit. But nobody was keen to fly BA again, or to recommend it.
Like other airlines, BA is still recovering from the combined squeeze of September 11th, the economic downturn, SARS, the Iraq war and the march of the low-cost fliers. It has led the way for other European carriers in, for instance, adopting the low-cost carriers' web-booking systems to offer a range of flexible fares. At off-peak periods on short-haul routes, BA is sometimes as cheap as the low-cost competition.
The clocking-in system is a tiny element in its survival plan, which also involves broad restructuring and deep job- and cost-cuts, and had seemed to be working. In the past two years BA has slashed one in four jobs—about 13,000 in all—without a whiff of labour trouble. Last summer, side-effects of this were showing up, with a shortage of ground staff routinely delaying departures at Gatwick by one hour most afternoons. There have been some warning signs this year, with a high rate of sickness causing the airline to hire in aircraft and crew to fill gaps. Rising absenteeism is a sure sign of stress in an organisation that is contracting. But the big mistake was to introduce a new working practice at the start of the summer quarter when the airline makes all its money.
The previous chief executive, Bob Ayling, never really recovered from a strike by cabin crew in the summer of 1997, which hit the airline's reputation and profits very badly, although he lasted nearly three more years. Today's tougher market means the stakes are higher and the game is quicker. The airline's shares fell 5% at one point on July 23rd after the current chief executive, Rod Eddington, observed that the strikes could have cost tens of millions of pounds in revenue.
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Jet II,
maybe you haven't met any staff who dont support the strike but as others have inferred perhaps you should get out a bit more.
You haven't met me face to face but I certainly dont support the illegal, selfish actions of the CSA staff who have been causing so much misery to our customers, driving away future business and thus jeapardising my career and the security of the company.
maybe you haven't met any staff who dont support the strike but as others have inferred perhaps you should get out a bit more.
You haven't met me face to face but I certainly dont support the illegal, selfish actions of the CSA staff who have been causing so much misery to our customers, driving away future business and thus jeapardising my career and the security of the company.
ex-Tanker
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Goodwill & Loyalty
Incidents like this go to show just how much goodwill major airlines enjoy. BA have (and in their time Swissair TWA and PANAM and others had) a mythos of quality, in which people want to believe.
These outfits can get away with murder and still people remain loyal... This has its limits if you look at the names in the brackets above.
Can you imagine what would have happened to easyJet if the same had been done at LTN? It would have finished the airline. In the case of BA it is for sure at least a nail in the coffin...
These outfits can get away with murder and still people remain loyal... This has its limits if you look at the names in the brackets above.
Can you imagine what would have happened to easyJet if the same had been done at LTN? It would have finished the airline. In the case of BA it is for sure at least a nail in the coffin...
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Ok, I know that the majority of people commenting on this topic are not directly involved with the dispute, and so none of us will ever be in a position to completely understand the exact implications of this new clocking in/out system.
My understanding of the situation (which may be totally incorrect), is by word of mouth from colleagues and friends, and via the media, and what I see is similar to what BA's passengers and investors will see. Alienating your passengers is bad enough, but at times like these, you cannot afford to alienate your investors as well!! Ba are fortuante enough to have a small money reserve, but prolonged strikes will use that money damn quick and potentially cripple the airline. Why do you want to risk undoing the good that has been done by the recent restructuring? Everyone has worked so hard, and made numerous sacrifices to ensure that BA has reduced debts and is more competitive, what a waste it is to give that up because of a more modern clocking in/out system!!
I work at LGW S and all I can say, is that last weekend was manic, but thanks BA CSAs for putting all those extra passengers our way, it certainly doesn't harm our customer airlines, and I know that Easyjet were more than grateful for those thousands of extra passengers!!!
What are the CSAs really worried about? Job cuts? Well, if the teams have too many workers, then why shouldn't BA be allowed to juggle things around and make redundancies? Customer services agents work shift work, so none of them are in the job because it gives them the ability to take their kids to school at 9am, go to work, and be back at school at 4pm! Shift work isn't like that! If BA really wanted to see how their current shift patterns, and the number of CSAs on duty are various times of the day, is working, they can already get that information from the rosters and the manual clock in/out sheets. Making the system automated will not greatly help BA make changes to shift patterns and numbers on duty.
Also, do these strikes not jeopardise the ground handling contracts that BA has at LHR. Why should other airlnes put up with these strikes and cancellations when there are other ground handlers at LHR, not on strike, who would be more than happy for the chance to increase their contracts? The strikes could lead to the lose of contracts, which would definitely then lead to job cuts!!!
Finally, it just seems like the same old BA story. The workers have become so accustomed to a safe life, that the word 'CHANGE' is mentioned and everyone panics! Go with the flow - provided that what BA is proposing isn't completely unfair, and that the changes will not affected your contracted working hours each week (i.e if you are contracted to work 38 hours a week, does it matter if BA change the times of your shifts as long as they don't change the total number of hours?) Hold more talks, don't strike and you will all have jobs this time next month.
Strike and we will see BA sink. BMI will say thank you for the shorthaul routes, Virgin will get the expansion at LHR they want with the additions of thousands of longhaul slots, and the two companies will not have even had to merge like they are discussing at the moment.
Finally, if you don't like it at BA, try it at one of the ground handling agents at LGW S. Worse pay, very few perks, and we don't have the benefit of the airport closing from 10pm to 5am!!! We are rostered on anytime from midnight to midnight!!! Also, our work load is massively higher, I would like to see the CSAs at BA checking in 6 charter flights (all 767s or 757s), all of those check-in opened at 4am, all of which departed between 0655 and 0715, with just 8 agents checking in these flights. Thats about 200 passengers per agent in just 3 hours!!! And our flights still go on time!!!
My understanding of the situation (which may be totally incorrect), is by word of mouth from colleagues and friends, and via the media, and what I see is similar to what BA's passengers and investors will see. Alienating your passengers is bad enough, but at times like these, you cannot afford to alienate your investors as well!! Ba are fortuante enough to have a small money reserve, but prolonged strikes will use that money damn quick and potentially cripple the airline. Why do you want to risk undoing the good that has been done by the recent restructuring? Everyone has worked so hard, and made numerous sacrifices to ensure that BA has reduced debts and is more competitive, what a waste it is to give that up because of a more modern clocking in/out system!!
I work at LGW S and all I can say, is that last weekend was manic, but thanks BA CSAs for putting all those extra passengers our way, it certainly doesn't harm our customer airlines, and I know that Easyjet were more than grateful for those thousands of extra passengers!!!
What are the CSAs really worried about? Job cuts? Well, if the teams have too many workers, then why shouldn't BA be allowed to juggle things around and make redundancies? Customer services agents work shift work, so none of them are in the job because it gives them the ability to take their kids to school at 9am, go to work, and be back at school at 4pm! Shift work isn't like that! If BA really wanted to see how their current shift patterns, and the number of CSAs on duty are various times of the day, is working, they can already get that information from the rosters and the manual clock in/out sheets. Making the system automated will not greatly help BA make changes to shift patterns and numbers on duty.
Also, do these strikes not jeopardise the ground handling contracts that BA has at LHR. Why should other airlnes put up with these strikes and cancellations when there are other ground handlers at LHR, not on strike, who would be more than happy for the chance to increase their contracts? The strikes could lead to the lose of contracts, which would definitely then lead to job cuts!!!
Finally, it just seems like the same old BA story. The workers have become so accustomed to a safe life, that the word 'CHANGE' is mentioned and everyone panics! Go with the flow - provided that what BA is proposing isn't completely unfair, and that the changes will not affected your contracted working hours each week (i.e if you are contracted to work 38 hours a week, does it matter if BA change the times of your shifts as long as they don't change the total number of hours?) Hold more talks, don't strike and you will all have jobs this time next month.
Strike and we will see BA sink. BMI will say thank you for the shorthaul routes, Virgin will get the expansion at LHR they want with the additions of thousands of longhaul slots, and the two companies will not have even had to merge like they are discussing at the moment.
Finally, if you don't like it at BA, try it at one of the ground handling agents at LGW S. Worse pay, very few perks, and we don't have the benefit of the airport closing from 10pm to 5am!!! We are rostered on anytime from midnight to midnight!!! Also, our work load is massively higher, I would like to see the CSAs at BA checking in 6 charter flights (all 767s or 757s), all of those check-in opened at 4am, all of which departed between 0655 and 0715, with just 8 agents checking in these flights. Thats about 200 passengers per agent in just 3 hours!!! And our flights still go on time!!!
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Bath
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BA Baggage
It is reported that BA have 10,000 bags at LHR that didn't travel with their owners. BA say they will have resolved that situation by Saturday (quite which Saturday is unstated!). How?
From my standpoint as SLF, I would opine that from the handling of the recent problems BA's management appears incompetent, and no doubt the shareholders will make their feelings known in the usual way.
The airline's credit rating is reportedly at junk bond level, and I suspect with a few more problems like the current ongoing one, they will be up for grabs..........
Businesses have finite lifetimes, and maybe it's time to say goodbye.
From my standpoint as SLF, I would opine that from the handling of the recent problems BA's management appears incompetent, and no doubt the shareholders will make their feelings known in the usual way.
The airline's credit rating is reportedly at junk bond level, and I suspect with a few more problems like the current ongoing one, they will be up for grabs..........
Businesses have finite lifetimes, and maybe it's time to say goodbye.
I am a figment of my own imagination
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
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The BA situation has attracted enormous interest and concern, an indication perhaps of just how many are affected in some way by the crisis.
It has for me once again shown the part Pprune plays in allowing us to get perhaps a closer look at some of the issues. It allows all sides of the event to be aired by parties, and although there is inevitably a great deal of 'undergrowth' to be trimmed away, nearly always provides us readers with a fair idea of what it is really all about.
I continue to hope that it is amicablly settled and that the airline will survive which ultimately would seem to be in everybody's interest
It has for me once again shown the part Pprune plays in allowing us to get perhaps a closer look at some of the issues. It allows all sides of the event to be aired by parties, and although there is inevitably a great deal of 'undergrowth' to be trimmed away, nearly always provides us readers with a fair idea of what it is really all about.
I continue to hope that it is amicablly settled and that the airline will survive which ultimately would seem to be in everybody's interest
BA staff walkout at LHR
Have these people not heard what happened to the british coal, car, steel, shipbuilding and other industries? Bigger names than BA have disappeared without trace both inside and outside aviation!