Dingbaticus,

Thank you for your kind and thoughtful post.

I feel optimistic about the future and I am glad that you seem to too.

Lets hope that all these agreements are upheld fairly by BA and we can all, again, feel that BA values all of us equally, even if some of us are more expensive than others; and also let hope that BA treats our Mixed Fleet colleagues fairly and allows them to have a fair and rewarding work/life balance too. This, them and us, divide has been very unnecessary and unfair on both sets of crew and lets hope that stops too.

I am not sure if I will rejoin the union, I will see how things pan out and think about it, it will all depend what kind of people inherit the mantle from DH and LM and what kind of rhetoric they come out with.

Thank you.

Tunbridge Wells said:

"Who cares who is claiming victory? The time for point scoring is past - onwards and upawards (literally!) "

Two things to consider here:

1) a ballot still has to be held, if the voters are told that the deal is rubbish and that BASSA have let them down, might they consider voting No to the deal....?

however.............

2) BASSA still have in place a discredited leadership. Repeated criticism might hasten their departure


To crow or not to crow - that is the question.:confused:

I think that DH has already been side lined. He just hasn't himself realised!

I think we do all need to look to the positives now.

Dunc surrenders
 

From the horse's mouth

But still the sycophants are asking him to stay on as branch sec. Beggars belief.

Looks like WatersideWonker needs to take his champagne off ice and put it back in the cellar.:=

Well well just what everyone has been saying all along! I have lost count of crew members have flown with who thought that within weeks crew defense, bassa and unite would secure the return of staff travel! How naive:rolleyes::rolleyes:

I have a couple of friends still voting NO, and still banging on about crew defense, I wonder if they can find the 1 million ££ minimum and about 6 years to take this to its final conclusion. (I doubt it)

Once again what every outsider ever thought with this dispute! However its amusing that there is now a petition to keep DH in his current role, and further more banging on about BALPA being kicked out the TUC, pity the TUC don't agree :D:D:D:D:ok:

Losers....................

Er.... no it hasn't. BASSA has, by its incompetent handling of the negotiations and pisspoor leadership right from the start way back in 2009, not only caused itself to become almost an irrelevance it has allowed savings to be made that could hitherto have only been a wet dream for WW, the board and shareholders of BA. Those savings are not only being made now but will become greater as time goes on and legacy crew retire or leave.

Disaster? I don't think so.

The only thing I find quite extraordinary is that anybody would be wasting their money paying BASSA/Unite for membership of such a dreadful organisation. The tail no longer wags the dog.

I must have missed it if anything has been posted but what became of the requests to see BASSA's accounts?

If you ignore the top table, who (Bassa member) has lost out?

Yeah! And what did the Romans ever do for us?

I always believe that no matter which forum it is, once a thread gets to the Monty Python quote, it has 'jumped the shark' and should be closed... :rolleyes:

Jumping the shark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The full agreement has now been published by BA and is on the IFCE page of the intranet for cabin crew to read. (Bill's link does not work, but it is there, if you look).

Shocking but I agree with Yellow Pen!

Far too early to take the champagne off the ice.

In post 4149 doishquattroserche appears to think we all follow BASSA like little lambs. Not so as the birth of CrewDefence proves.

CrewDefence was borne of frustration by some members at the perceived lack of understanding or support from both the Labour Party and Unite, especially in regards to the taking of travel concessions as a punishment for going on strike.

With 2000 plus members it should not be lightly dismissed, as I believe there is unhappiness at the dropping of litigation by Unite as part of a negotiated settlement.

This weekend saw skirmishes on the BASSA forum that at times descended into a cyber street war, as some members whipped up a VOTE NO sentiment before we even had a chance to read the document.

I still believe the vote will be to settle but it is vital we all return our ballot to guarantee it.

We don’t all want the same thing so the settlement was never going to please everyone. However, it meets some important criteria including a permanent contractual agreement regarding variable pay and independent binding arbitration for the suspended and sacked.

I believe the clinical psychologist identified some areas that were barriers to achieving settlement. Having two branches of our Union has always caused problems as issues have historically often turned into power struggles to the frustration of the business. There will be a merging of BASSA and 89(Amicus) which may not please all members. There will be elections for Reps too and I suspect some new faces will enter the arena as all are not happy. Betty Girl, this is where members have the opportunity to step forward and change things from the inside.

As for the management, I believe some may have been referred to as ‘treacle’, a sticky barrier to achieving settlement. I suspect Mr Williams will reducing his sugar intake and introducing a more savoury menu.

After any war there are serious issues. There is anger from those who lost more pay days than strike days that the Union will no longer pursue this. However, the settlement document does acknowledge individual Union members can pursue cases themselves and support each other, so CrewDefence may yet have some work to do.

Both sides have to step down from ‘battle mode’ and some will find this harder than others. Now is when the hard work begins!

Alehandra, you noted my post on here was very different to the ‘other’ forum. Whilst my style here is less emotional and I am mindful of the fact this is a public forum, my sentiments are the same.

We have been accused of being ‘Mentalists’ but I believe the reality is we are passionate, emotional people. It’s why we were recruited. Unlike other careers, being Cabin Crew becomes part of our self identity. Attacks by the media and events such as the ‘wailing wall’ debacle felt to me like an attack on the Company I love too. It was personal. The dispute got personal. I am sure it will be studied in the future and I hope the lessons it produces will help Unions and Companies have more productive relationships, as the toxic fall out of a prolonged industrial dispute is very damaging to both individuals and businesses.

The postings made by Dingbaticus on this site are my own thoughts, feelings and beliefs and don’t necessarily represent my employers positions, strategies or opinions

Good points Dingbaticus.

I have always said on here that the way all this was handled by both sides actually made it a lot worse than it needed to be and lets hope lessons will be learnt.

Lets also hope that ALL those of us that want an end to this and have a vote! use it to vote YES. Please, pretty please.

Dingbaticus
 

An excellent post! This dispute has been so divisive, and we have all become entrenched in our opinions to some degree or other. I had been rather pessimistic about the pace of reconciliation on all sides, but you have just half filled my glass! Cheers!!

Full document is on . FRONT PAGE HOME PAGE ( open website for all to see). Will read it later on over a glass or two of vino


Nice to see unite entering into the full spirit of the occasion by STILL having WW on the front page. Seems they just can't help themselves can they!!

I notice they blame people like me for their recklessness!

Those of us that did not think a 12 day strike over Christmas was a good idea and left the union as a result. It is all our fault! I don't think so!

Shame they felt the need to add that at the end but never mind, I'm just glad it will soon be over!

You see that is why many of us wont feel able to rejoin these people!!Ding.

Good post Dingbaticus :D

Its time for us all to move on, and hopefully enjoy the future.:ok:

So your not that happy with Duncan that's because he has shown great leadership of BASSA unlike another so called union which starts with a B. Now I feel many of you have been upset by the fact that a deal is 99% sure to be accepted hard for you to understand that an honourable settlement has arrived. It's a pity some people wanted to get involved in " our dispute" and looked down to in the aviation world. I had the pleasure of hearing the comments of Air Canada and Lufthansa crew saying how brave we were to fight on and yes mention of our so called team mates let us down. When will you lot understand that once we leave the aircraft we no longer want contact with your circle as you betrayed us beyond belief. Maybe in 2013 a thaw in relations will happen to coincide with our original ban date expiration who knows. Well BASSA we are proud of you and all of the 7000 army who stood firm.

Au contraire dear WWW. We are delighted that Duncan has finally shown great leadership and has admitted to the faithful that they have not won the dispute (see above). It must really have been a bitter pill to swallow, but swallow it he did. He gets a pat on the back from me (but not too hard, wouldn't want him to cough it up!!).

Well they're entitled to their opinion. Equally the lovely Lufthansa, KLM and AF crews I've chatted to downroute really didn't know much about the strike and cared less. It's certainly not stopped us socialising with them at the 19th hole! I know it's hard for the fundamentalists to accept but the BA strike is not a big deal. Few people outside BA care. It's just not an issue for them.

When will you lot understand that we just don't care? We flew through your strikes and had a great time with the rational crews who came to work. The idea that we want to spend our time hanging out with a bunch of deluded militants, listening to them whinge about how the whole world is against them is beyond ludicrous.

You don't get your staff travel back until you change your behaviour. You've got to take your medicine first. How was the champagne?

PS It was 5000.