British Airways - CC Industrial Relations & Negotiations
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I found the comments section which followed the Times atricle mentioned above quite interesting. I thought this person summed it up quite well:
I believe that BASSA is run by CSD's and senior Pursers, who enjoy 'old contract' terms and conditions.
No crew I have spoken with has any funds set aside for a strike. They assume it will involve not turning up for a trip today, but all will be okay by tomorrow.
There again......no crew I have spoken with seem to believe or understand that the Airline has a problem, or that there has even been a global financial problem.
They refuse to grasp the changes that other staff groups have made, and totally fail to realise that they need to change as well for the airline to survive or thrive.
All staff at the headquarters building, Waterside, are thought to be 'freeloading' 'Latte drinkers' who only work Monday to Friday.
As a workforce Cabin Crew are incredibly insular, they look to each other and to their Union as their sole sources of truthfull information, and thrive on rumour from the same sources. Anything coming from their employer, or outside, is treated with mistrust.
No crew I have spoken with has any funds set aside for a strike. They assume it will involve not turning up for a trip today, but all will be okay by tomorrow.
There again......no crew I have spoken with seem to believe or understand that the Airline has a problem, or that there has even been a global financial problem.
They refuse to grasp the changes that other staff groups have made, and totally fail to realise that they need to change as well for the airline to survive or thrive.
All staff at the headquarters building, Waterside, are thought to be 'freeloading' 'Latte drinkers' who only work Monday to Friday.
As a workforce Cabin Crew are incredibly insular, they look to each other and to their Union as their sole sources of truthfull information, and thrive on rumour from the same sources. Anything coming from their employer, or outside, is treated with mistrust.
Join Date: Sep 2006
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Keeping within the rules...
Tony Woodley wasn't there (don't know the reason). Stand-in used instead. "Frank and open" discussion about a package that will save £120m - ish by 2011. WW is writing a summary to DS, including a reply about a suggestion put forward by union (no details of what that suggestion is). Waiting for answer from union.
Still going ahead with VR and PT, as well as reduced cc levels as of 16th November.
That's the main bit, really. It wasn't a long email, nor a lot of detail in there.
Gg
Tony Woodley wasn't there (don't know the reason). Stand-in used instead. "Frank and open" discussion about a package that will save £120m - ish by 2011. WW is writing a summary to DS, including a reply about a suggestion put forward by union (no details of what that suggestion is). Waiting for answer from union.
Still going ahead with VR and PT, as well as reduced cc levels as of 16th November.
That's the main bit, really. It wasn't a long email, nor a lot of detail in there.
Gg
Join Date: Jul 2009
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a rather heated discussion over on cabincrew.com on some New Fleet topic! It makes me wonder why so many have no idea about the state of the industry and why changes need to be made! Its worrying!
Join Date: Nov 2003
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LFH wrote:
....it is indeed an accurate viewpoint. Many of the more junior crew don't even realise that they don't get paid for days they are on strike. If that isn't evidence of BASSA NOT taking care of their membership I don't know what is.
Well isn't that just life LFH,,,some people just sit back and wait to be told. If you are saying that some junior crew expect to be paid by BA if they withdraw their labour, then I find that hard to believe. Maybe you just got it wrong.
....it is indeed an accurate viewpoint. Many of the more junior crew don't even realise that they don't get paid for days they are on strike. If that isn't evidence of BASSA NOT taking care of their membership I don't know what is.
Well isn't that just life LFH,,,some people just sit back and wait to be told. If you are saying that some junior crew expect to be paid by BA if they withdraw their labour, then I find that hard to believe. Maybe you just got it wrong.
Naive, as well as led up the garden path by a bunch of chumps.
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Considering they've only just realised that if they're on unpaid leave, their subs to the union isn't being paid - if it goes through payroll that is, I'm not surprised... I'm wondering if Bassa have removed them from their member list? Also, quite a lot of cc thought that when taking unpaid leave, they would still be paid their basic wage... Hmm, something doesn't add up here.
Gg
Gg
Join Date: Aug 2009
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If you want a very salient lesson from history, and have the attention span to read a couple of paragraphs that aren't entirely made up of cliche and 'OMG, I'm behind BASSA 110% LOL!', then have a look at this; There are an awful lot of parallels!
Frank Lorenzo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(specifically the bit about strike and bankruptcy at Continental)
Frank Lorenzo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(specifically the bit about strike and bankruptcy at Continental)
Join Date: Jun 2009
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The scary thing is that so many crew members are so blindly following orders from their union without any understanding or even an attempt to understand how much damage a strike would cause and the possible repercussions of their actions.
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I believe we're witnessing Bassa walk straight and true towards their demise, probably within weeks, possibly days, and collateral damage will be current crews' livelihoods. - It could have been so different. Bassa reps should be ashamed.
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I note that Keith Williams has said that BA will make another record financial loss this year. Given the size of the savings available in crewing costs, a large part of that will be due to the failure of BASSA to agree to changes earlier in the financial year. I wonder how long it will take for BASSA to realise that they are part of the problem and that premium yields are not going to recover and that permanent changes have to be made.
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Actually according to Bill Francis and his latest internal missive they have gone down. He now quotes a saving of £127million, not £140million, nor for that matter £82million. Shifting goal posts. Management without a clue.
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LD and your mates....don't believe for one minute that all of the total losses within BA can be attributed to a section of one dept. Isn't that what they want all to believe?
Get back to the basics - WW is taking this time of financial woes to break a Union, change all T&C's and impose changes without negotiation.
Rather than continually nitpick at the CC Unions in a tribal fashion, you should all be applauding their stance against WW for it could be your turn next.
Get back to the basics - WW is taking this time of financial woes to break a Union, change all T&C's and impose changes without negotiation.
Rather than continually nitpick at the CC Unions in a tribal fashion, you should all be applauding their stance against WW for it could be your turn next.
I believe we're witnessing Bassa walk straight and true towards their demise .....
..... collateral damage will be current crews' livelihoods.
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CFC - I never said all of the losses were attributable to one department, the point I was making is that BA making an even greater financial loss than last year is clear evidence that its cost base is completely out of line with revenues, and the lack of agreement with BASSA has a considerable bearing on the increasing financial losses. This should have all been sorted out at least 9 months ago.
Out of interest, for just how long do think BA can sustain these losses before it runs out of cash?
Out of interest, for just how long do think BA can sustain these losses before it runs out of cash?