British Airways - CC Industrial Relations Mk VI

[winstonsmith]

Two-Tone-Blue

I never implied that the entire workforce does this - but to deny that it never happens is nothing but wrong - because it does and a lot more than what some would think.

Even if OPS can't always keep them on the trip - it's the principle that certain crew one second are willing to bend their agreements to their own benefit and another second not simply because there's nothing in for them.

That's the harsh - but very honest - truth.

It's the same on WW and I have seen it with my own eyes - crew "dragging" out on certain things on an HKG flight to extend their duty times with a couple of times to get another box payment - things they normally wouldn't if it was a charity trip from BOM.

[beamender99]

BBC Radio Four item and interview with a CC at the start of program You & Yours.
Available after 1300 hrs when the programme finishes

BBC - Search results for You and Yours

[Two-Tone-Blue]

Unite will be announcing the result of the ballot of its BA cabin crew at 5pm. Electoral Reform Services has had to delay the count due to unexpected circumstances and therefore the Unite press conference will be at 5pm.

Hmmm ... conspiracy theory time again? Surely not? However, a simple explanation of the circumstances would have been nice.

[edit = Thank you, Lord Bracken]

[Flyluke]

Maybe it just isn't the result they hoped for

[Lord Bracken]

According to Unite

We have been advised by Electoral Reform Services that due to the late delivery of the final batch of voting papers (due to the Royal Mail lorry breaking down!), that they will not be in a position to give us the results of the ballot until late this afternoon.
As soon as we have the result we will post it onto the website, send it out via our Twitter account and will send an email to those members who have registered their email address with us.

[ottergirl]

Is this not part of the whole problem?

One crew goes home because they are a few minutes over industrial rules, another crew from standby at the airport is called out.

That's two crews to do one crews' work.

Everyday the CRC is full of crew on standby to cover the operation.

To be fair I think you would still need most of those standbys as a contingency against flights being much more than a few minutes late, or 'no-shows' due to the unpredictable M25, sickness, etc. As we have been discussing, cabin crew on standby are fairly cheap as they are on basic pay until they have contact with a customer. I have no idea how many total per day are rostered this but I may count tomorrow when I join their number! (certainly not so many to FILL the CRC!) winstonsmith may be able to tell us.

There are not so many pilots on standby as they are a more valuable resource and so if they are caught in traffic then the flight waits for them; also if they are late for a link they are likely to have the plane with them. Flights do not wait even 5 minutes for individual cabin crew and nor should they.

[essessdeedee]

a half decent union would have the foresight to modernise an anachronistic 'varaible' pay system by NEGOTIATING a more inclusive pay deal less reliant on varaible pay

But why would the reps want to do this when (if what I have been told is correct) they would only operate on the lucrative routes?

[MrBernoulli]

Exactly! It's not in the reps' interest to change any of this!

[PaddyMiguel]

Lucrative Routes

But why would the reps want to do this when (if what I have been told is correct) they would only operate on the lucrative routes?

One of the reasons that Fleet Directors (sort of super CSDs who also did ground management duties) were disbanded was their need to check out the NRT, HKG and SIN flights much more often than BOS or YYZ. If they were seen in NBO or HRE then their other half or their little bit on the side was probably operating the flight. Power corrupts...........

[Ancient Observer]

er, why??

Why did Unite spend 1.2m UKP on lawyers to find out that bits of Unite (T & G) would not sit down with other bits (Amicus), and that the judge would find that to be important?

PPrune had pointed that out many months ago - for free.

[Lucifer]

Ottergirl - you make many good points, but I don't think it is unreasonable to suggest that those Cabin Crew who put themselves forward as reps have the business acumen and negotiating skills suitable for that position. Cabin Crew first they may well be, but the point of an organised union is to bolster the position of its members through effective delivery of the members' position in a professional manner.

If they cannot negotiate, you have to wonder why they have the gall to put themselves forward in the first instance.

[Litebulbs]

How does this alleged trip fiddling work? I presume every WW flight has a CSD, so how can a select few, who buy all accounts, are despised by every other department, manage to only do high yield trips?

[Lucifer]

It was alleged that certain scheduling individuals were bribed (with what, who knows), and those allegations allegedly led to an individual leaving BA after an investigation, who now works for Unite in a certain capacity.

I stress alleged. It has not to my knowledge been to court.

[Timothy Claypole]

It does seem a strange coincidence that the dismissed scheduler was invited by BASSA to deliver their strike notification to BA personally.

[Litebulbs]

So the actual system is not corrupt, just some of the people within it are? That could be fixed in one week. How come BA management are not aware, but a fair few people on here are?

[moo]

bassa website shown on itv

oh dear, bassa's inflammatory website has just been leaked to ITN

National News - ITV News

[Litebulbs]

binsleepin -

Point taken. I read through that whole document twice and I was drawn to the previous paragraph, whereby the Judge said in better times, the ruling would have been in favour of the claimants. Just goes to show how my selective reading worked!

[Dave Bloke]

Originally Posted by Litebulbs

I read through that whole document twice and I was drawn to the previous paragraph, whereby the Judge said in better times, the ruling would have been in favour of the claimants.

This leads to two conclusions.

1. It backs up BA's assertion that the changes are necessary to ensure it's survival as a business.

2. BA would probably not have attempted to take on BASSA in this manner had they been in a strong financial state, nor would they have needed to.

[PaddyMiguel]

So the actual system is not corrupt, just some of the people within it are? That could be fixed in one week. How come BA management are not aware, but a fair few people on here are?

BA management is aware (or at least it was when I was with BA) An internal investigation at LGW showed that certain crew were operating to EZE many times more than the average. A close eye was kept on scheduling clerks and finally one was dismissed. The point is someone has to operate the flight and it's no skin off BA's nose if it's the same person every time or if the money trips are spread fairly across the fleet, no matter how much it matters to the crews affected. The moral questions of corruption and fairness don't raise much of a 'business case' for extra resources to investigate if the daily operation isn't being compromised.

[Papillon]

I read through that whole document twice and I was drawn to the previous paragraph, whereby the Judge said in better times, the ruling would have been in favour of the claimants.

Where do you see he said that?