British Airways vs. BASSA (Airline Staff Only)

[SlideBustle]

Meal Allowances

Eddy,

Just whilst we are on the subject of Meal Allowances..... I have respect for your postings as you do talk sense.

But can I just say I agree with what you say with regards to Meal Allowances and this is true if you are on Worldwide. However as a Eurofleet crew member, if we do there and backs you can get anything from light refreshment which is very light in your pocket right up until Dinner Allowances. Some EF crew do bid for there and backs for whatever reason and SOME of these there and backs can be bliddy hard work. Band 4s pay meal allowances plus the long day payment which will go to MTP. However, some there and backs are quite long duty days but only get the meal allowances. So we do need them, if you see what I am saying? And obviously we do need to negotiate protection for them. As the basic is very low! Particularly new contract! (I am on your side btw, and didn't strike, I think the union has lost the plot!)

Anyway I think I see what you are saying about HMRC tax issues etc and for that reason I will shut up - but I will say - for there and backs at least or doubles, there should be a ''pilot'' style hourly rate - for the above reasons.

But of course having said all of that, we do need our meal allowances, and on most routes if you are going to eat and drink downroute you will spend them!!!! I can see what you mean.

[autothrottle]

Unite web page

Unbelievable. The Unite web page is an utter disgrace to the trade union movement. Amateur and petty. If I was in unite I would be very worried about their leadership , or lack of it, and putting my future in their hands. However , I would not be in Unite ,who appear to be an amateur Trade Union . It is a shame that people cannot see that all the rhetoric, posteuring and threatening propaganda comes from a union who have boxed themselves into an impossible corner, and are like a cornered rat trying to fight for its life.

Members should be very careful how they vote at the next ballot and not be led down a dark, dangerous alley by a union whose web page and ethos is like a 6th form anti establishment protest.

[poltergiest]

I came on this forum as I had heard about postings on here and wanted to see for myself. After reading (yawning) through most of the threads, I have come to the conclusion that people on here really have NO idea what the initial or current proposal to cabin crew involves. I am also surprised that so much time is spent on this forum by so many who are not directly involved in this dispute. Oh and before you start jumping down my throat to say as a BA employee it does involve you, I would just like to say that from what I am reading most of you seem to think BASSA is a lost cause and the deal is already done and dusted. So WHY are so many of you still on here???? Anyway, night all. Can't WAIT to read your responses tomorrow. Off for my beauty sleep. Night

[Abbey Road]

Unite and BASSA's latest wheeze.

British Airways cabin crew to appeal High Court ruling rejecting injunction against staff changes

So, even though a "... judge ruled against the cabin crew and found BA could legally make the changes as the relevant terms in the collective agreements were not incorporated into individual employment contracts ...", the lawyers for Unite still think they know better:

"John Hendy QC, who will represent the cabin crew at the Court of Appeal, will argue that thousands of cabin crew are "suffering a material prejudicial impact on their working conditions" which had forced them to work harder and become more stressed, so "there was no reason for the Learned Judge to be unwilling to grant an injunction".

Work harder? Give me strength!

How is it that the cabin crew at LGW, who have been working under similar conditions for some substantail time now, have not been supported by a Unite/BASSA position of "suffering a material prejudicial impact on their working conditions"? Can anyone explain? In fact, I believe it was BASSA who agreed to put LGW cabin crew on those very Ts & Cs, so why is it now "prejudicial" for LHR, but not LGW cabin crew?

BA now have precisely the reason they need to serve 90 days notice on contracts for cabin crew ...... which was actually suggested by the very same John Hendy QC in court at the end of last year! Well done Unite!

[BlueUpGood]

Hi all,

I've received many positive comments regarding my post no 4891, 11th June, for which I thank you! It appears that it has been copied to another forum, and somewhere along the line edited, and is no longer in the first person.

Whilst imitation is the best kind of flattery, in these difficult times, and just for the record, I think I should make it clear that the post was my opinion, and did not represent the opinion of any other etc etc! Also that I have not posted on any other forum, under any other name. However I'm delighted that more people will get to see it

[flyingtheflag]

Well Hi everyone, I am new on here, I'm shorthaul CC. I recently removed myself from the crewforum as I was hounded and insulted for expressing anti- strike opinions, I also know of other crew that told me they had been banned from there for the same thing and also had recieved similar treatement. I am now wondering how many of these crew on there have been suspended for such actions and these are probably the ones that BASSA claim have done nothing wrong and even want us to strike to get them re-instated, unfortunately some crew refuse to listen or see reason. I do recognise however that the very millitant ones are in the minority and many crew that are striking, really feel they are fighting for what they believe in..

[demomonkey]

The View From Above

Here is a photograph of LHR taken on 5th June 2010 (a 'strike' day).

Photos: - Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net

If you notice at the bottom centre of the photo is the maintenance area which is normally predominated by BA aeroplanes undergoing routine maintenance. You can see that there are a approximately 15 Airbus (SH) sized a/c parked up which is less than 1/5 of the Airbus fleet or ~6% of the total fleet. The other larger aircraft (LH) in the vicinity are typical of normal operations. Up at the top centre of the photograph you can see T5 is looking busy as usual with slightly fewer a/c on T5a which would be expected given the SH figures published by BA.

So BASSA, here it is in hard copy; BA can and will survive without you. Poltergeist, you may think that you're only allowed to have an opinion if; (a.) you work for BA; (b.) are CC; (c.) voted YES and (d.) went on strike. However as events have demonstrated we all have an opinion and we (the rest of us) think BASSA are following a suicidal strategy. Ignoring reality won't make the hard facts any more palatable. You might not read BA's emails but this photo of the real world very closely resembles their 'propaganda' and contradicts BASSA's 'facts'.

BlueUpGood summaried very precisely the viewpoint of the 45,000+ of us who don't subscribe to your union's lunacy. BA can and will survive without BASSA.

These are my personal views and not those of any other individual or organisation.

[Watersidewonker]

Demonmonkey your photo only tells half the story I was under the impression that BA had an engineering area's such as TBA,TBK,TBJ. This seems to me like something North Korea would post telling it's people the new monorail link to the airport is now complete or the harvest had been a great success. I do sometimes wonder why we get a little annoyed with people not seeing the bigger picture well in this case the whole picture. Many planes parked up and not shown oh and I notice Bedfont just gets into the picture ha ha.

[essessdeedee]

your photo only tells half the story I was under the impression that BA had an engineering area's such as TBA,TBK,TBJ.

Don't you just wish people understood what they are looking at? TBJ/K is in the bottom R/h corner, TBA wont fit much of LHR's current fleet and the parking area for TBD/E canbe seen off to the left. (doesn't bedfont look rather empty?

[malcolmf]

What about all the aircraft in the hangars?

[demomonkey]

WatersideWonker wrote: Demonmonkey your photo only tells half the story I was under the impression that BA had an engineering area's such as TBA,TBK,TBJ.

Getting an impression of something is ok but to discuss a subject with knowledge requires attention to detail. My name is 'demo monkey' as in 'safety demo' and I would appreciate it if you would use my correct name when referring to me. What other details have you skimmed over?

[Watersidewonker]

Ok unless I'm mistaken (which I'm not) TBC is opposite the TBJ/TBK complex and is not shown.Add this to fact that only the first parking space past the road crossing is only shown.So at least 75% of the engineering base is not shown so add at least another 15 planes and another 8 or so nearer to Hatton Cross close to uniform stores.I hope this will clear up a few errors of identification that some people who are unfamiliar of the engineering base at LHR seem not to understand.

[demomonkey]

I hope this will clear up a few errors of identification that some people who are unfamiliar of the engineering base at LHR seem not to understand.

I'm sure there must be some Engineers who post on this Forum who could verify the information. You know the Engineers, their the one's who resigned from UNITE en-mass after their Union levied fees to keep BASSA in Pimms, Burgers and Bouncy Castles.

We hear alot about how great the atmosphere was at BFC, but nothing about the great atmosphere at CFC (Crawley Football Club)? I wonder why a major branch of BASSA's members didn't feel the need to stand shoulder to shoulder with their Heathrow colleagues?

Points mades. Timing out. Byeee.....

[Dick Whit]

Meal allowances

Surely as you need to eat at home a meal allowance should be a supplement to ensure you can afford to eat whilst you are away from home?
Anything over that should be taxed.
And we have just had a mail in work stating that the highest number of volunteers during the strike period came from the Finance/Property/IT dept within BA.
Where WERE all those pilots?

DW

[Fargoo]

TBC is a car park/office building which contains the engine workshop and composite shop along with the training school - not aircraft.

The photo shows more than the usual number of Airbus aircraft parked (non stike days 2-3 normally) during the strike day but many less than at the start of the strikes showing that more flights were running as the strike went on.

Around the back of TBA there is space for another 6 or so aircraft to park. 4 of these spots are taken by 757's which are under storage awaiting transfer to their new owners. The rest of the 757 fleet were bunched up there during the strikes but not sure on this particular date.

Of the remaining spaces, TBA and TBJ are normally pretty full with aircraft undergoing maintenance and TBK is out of action being reworked to accept the 777-300's.

All that photo does is prove there were several Airbus aircraft parked on the TE stands during the strikes showing that BA's already announced reduction in shorthaul flights was probably accurate.

Hope that clears things up a bit.

[essessdeedee]

Ok unless I'm mistaken (which I'm not) TBC is opposite the TBJ/TBK complex and is not shown

you are not mistaken, but TBC is actually next door to TBJ/K and is a multistorey cark park (or are those engineers damn clever?)

[Tiramisu]

Posted by Dick Whit
Where WERE all those pilots?

They were simply not required as so many cabin crew came to work. Infact even when cabin crew were on standby, the majority of us weren't used as most crew turned up. Something else that BASSA refused to believe.

[MissM]

The photograph of LHR makes it look like a busy day but it doesn't really mean anything. How many flights went empty? How many flights went with only cargo? How many of the aircraft at T5 are wet least aircraft? One photograph doesn't say anything. Maybe an every half an hour update would have been good so that we could have seen if there were any aircraft movements. We kept an eye online on departing flights at BFC throughout the strike and according to our calculations BA did not increase its schedule as much as they claimed.

What happened with the announcement? What happened with the P45 or the new contract which some were confident in that we would be receiving?

Could somebody explain something to me? I was asked at the CRC to remove my BASSA lanyard because it's not uniform standard and hence not allowed. One feet away from where I was standing, there were three pilots (thank you for staring) wearing their BALPA lanyards and nobody asked them to remove theirs. Is it contradictory or is BA afraid that others will see the support BASSA have?

[Tiramisu]

Posted by Miss M
Could somebody explain something to me? I was asked at the CRC to remove my BASSA lanyard because it's not uniform standard and hence not allowed. One feet away from where I was standing, there were three pilots (thank you for staring) wearing their BALPA lanyards and nobody asked them to remove theirs. Is it contradictory or is BA afraid that others will see the support BASSA have?

Miss M,
It has always been my understanding that BASSA lanyards can be worn if turned to reflect the word BASSA inwards. I certainly have never asked my crew to remove them but to wear them as above. The difference with BALPA lanyards is that our Flight Crew have different uniform standards to us. I don't think for a minute that BA are afraid of the diminishing support BASSA have.

[Wirbelsturm]

How many flights went empty? How many flights went with only cargo? How many of the aircraft at T5 are wet least aircraft? One photograph doesn't say anything.

How many of the 'masses' at BFC were actually cabin crew?

Visit the picket lines at Heathrow and Gatwick. Ring 020 7819 1175 to get in touch with Socialist Worker supporters traveling down together

A group of striking teachers from Clifton primary school in Southall visited the pickets to show their support today. “Clifton teachers and BA crew share bullying bosses,” said Nick Grant, secretary of Ealing NUT union.

The Right to Work campaign is asking BA strike supporters in London and the South East to join the Unite picket lines at Heathrow this Saturday, 27 March, 10-12noon. Meet at Hattton Cross tube station at 10am to march to the picket centre, Bedfont Football Club, The Orchard, Hatton Road, Bedfont, Middlesex, TW14 9QT. Bring your union, campaign and other banners plus RtW petitions and strike collections in support of the cabin crew.

Gawd bless the Socialist Waster Party or, as more commonly known, 'rent a crowd'.

As to Miss M's admission to taking VR if made available again (when the devil goes to work on a snow mobile), I wonder if your colleagues would be too happy with increasing their productivity AGAIN to allow you to take a cushy number after your ill thought out actions? Just a thought.