I think this forum is bad your aggressive blood pressure Carney Matey! I'm not quite sure what you resent in life (apart from everyone on this forum), but hey, no-one is perfect. I remember flying with you once when I worked at BA....the good ol' days of being paid thousands for doing, well, am not quite sure really.....you were the one sucking the lemon, remember?

You'll be pleased to know that some of the easy money I earnt now goes towards your wages while I sit as a passenger.

Safe flying...

Nothing aggressive in my posts miche, just calm statement of the facts. The only aggression here is from all the emotional, hysterical types who can't seem to handle the presentation of facts and prefer to make emotive accusations about people despising or resenting other people, or just prefer to post rhetoric and soundbites without ever presenting supporting information. My blood pressure always was, and remains, comfortably low, but I thank you for your concern.:)

Tut tut Luoto! Pax can fly with whoever they like so please continue to enjoy your bus journey!

Premium pax that pay premium prices may have slightly higher expectations than yours. Is that ok? After nearly 20 years flying, my colleagues and I, pride ourselves on being just that ... professional. Naturally you have your own valued opinion of BA crew, however, the GPM's, filled out by you - the pax, reflect that they choose to be frequent flyers with BA becasue they like the level of service they receive. You may beg to differ with the millions of pax that fill our planes though? :=

Hi Carnage Matey!
Of course the management is trying to take money from us! Directly, by taking away breakfast allowances at LGW, and indirectly by removing the possibility of promotion for us. I don't want to strike, but I hope that a threat to strike might bring the management team back to the table to take our concerns more seriously and not just tell us that they will be imposed upon us whether we like it or not. I am in this job for the longhaul (ho ho), and I want this airline to be world-class. But it kinda sticks in my throat when our management are being given huge bonuses and I am being asked to tighten my belt.

I don't feel I am overpaid in the slightest. I recently enquired about a job in teaching and was surprised to learn that teachers earn more than me. So do nurses. I am not saying I am more qualified (although I have a degree - I know, my choice to do this job...but a job I KNOW I excel at..), but that lovely BOY IN BLUE mentioned that we are not trained to nurses levels or firemen's standards. And they also do shift work. While this may be true, few jobs expect you to do a day shift on day 1, a night shift on day 2/3, another day shift on day 4 and another night shift on day 5/6. And then expect you to do CPR on someone (yes, I've done that); be prepared and trained enough to fight a fire; console a breaved passenger, take the cheese tray up to the Flight Crew and exchange niceties with them; speak to a foreign passenger in their tongue; and all the while, stay awake, with a smile on your (groomed) face despite the fact that your feet are killing you.
No-one is saying that we are Florence Nightingale, and this is a job a lot of people choose to do because they love the life-style. I am good at my job, I enjoy interacting with my flight-and cabin crew colleagues and passengers alike. I have a brain and earned more temping as a secretary while I awaited the outcome of my interview, but there are not that many people out there that are equipped to do this job as well as I - or many of my lovely, hard-working colleagues are.
So yes, I am going to fight to keep my working conditions from deteriorating.

It is time for crew to teach the managment a lesson. We might not achieve must on this strike but hey we will let them know that we are not going to settle for less.
Oh yes we do have great conditions & agreement what is wrong in just want to keep them.
I just wanna keep my agreements and pay. I dont want anymore of what I am getting.
this is not a joke we are serious VOTE YES:D

Exactly Triple X.
We should not need to justify why we earn what we do, or the agreements we work to.
Yes, wages and agreements are amongst the best in the industry.
Yes, happy, well paid staff = bumper profits for BA.
Yes, purely because of the pay and agreements is why I chose to work for BA over Virgin, Britannia etc etc.
And Yes, I will certainly strike to maintain these agreements (and I wouldn't call myself a huge fan of BASSA either). In fact, out of all the trips I have worked on since rumours of the strike began i can count on one hand the number of collegues who will not be voting 'yes'.
Although to be fair BA have made it clear that they are NOT proposing and changes to our agreements. The main issues are the attendance management process, pensions, removal of a purser on the jumbo, an increase in pay increments on the post '97 contract and the correct application of us flying no more than 900 hours in any 12 rolling months.

This new management we have need to be shown that they can not walk over us. They cannot get away with 'negotiating' an attendace management process with BASSA and once it's agreed simply change the rules to benefit them.
Management whinging that we are too expensive while they award themselves with GBP75million bonuses. :=
Management that take months to sort out the simple issue of a woman wearing a cross around her neck.
I'm certainly not going to get on my soapbox about how poorly paid I am or how un-fair it is. Because it is not true. I am paid well, which is why I left Virgin for BA. I get more time off after trips, which is why I left Virgin for BA. Its also why I am so, so much happier when on the aircraft when I am at BA. Which I guess in some small way is why we make so much money.

I find it surprising that someone can find it surprising that teachers earn more than cabin crew. I hope this was a pleasant surprise?

I can understand someone wanting to protect the terms and conditions that they currently possess. I can also understand an employer wanting to reduce those terms and conditions as much as possible. BA are to some extent held over a barrel by their cabin crew because there are so many of them to replace, however, the bottom line is that a very large proportion of the general population could be trained to do the job, and also would like to do it. Would they do such a good job or be so dedicated if they were earning less? There in lies the crux of the argument. Unfortunately, BA management do not really care about that. They do not think of money being an incentive to do your job well. They just want to pay as little as they can get away with.

Apparently BA want to save £37m pa from cabin crew. Well that is not many days of strike action, but at the same time, Willie has a point to prove to strikers, so how far will he go to break the cabin crew? This is the most important question. One thing for sure, BASSA need to be totally convinced that their action is legal with all the Ts crossed and the Is dotted.

I personally think Willie will succeed in his mission to reduce cabin crew costs, but it will take him longer than he hopes. He has just pretty much replaced the whole workforce of long haul Gatwick crews by using 6 month temporary contractors at Heathrow and upping recruitment at shorthaul Gatwick for a while before hand. Could he do something similar in reverse for Heathrow?

One thing for sure, he will not stop at the cabin crew. Every workgroup is under attack. He just needs to do them one at a time, so that he can spread half truths about how one individual workgroup is fouling up the progress of the whole company when all other groups have agreed to changes!

Some interesting exchanges,- and interestingly not so much as a nod towards the further battering LHR, the BAA and BA have taken in the customers eyes over the pre Christmas fog disruptions. Both the BAA and BA are lucky that there was a lot of fog about the fog and underneath the "Act of God, not our fault" cover is the fact were a lot of shortcomings despite many efforts to overcome them. BAs separate rostering of pilots and cabin crew due to different base turnaround times is just one of the problems. A further strike will just accelerate the customers growing dissatisfaction with LHR, the BAA and BA, all of whose fates are closely interlinked. The customers are not interested in the pros and cons of a dispute or any other factors behind disruption. They are just getting sick of it .Think about it. If you are travelling in 2007 who would you book with and which airports would you use for the best chance of getting where you want to with a minimum of potential hassle? The logical answer is a serious threat to BA's future,- and your jobs.

GS-Alpha makes a sound point - crew costs WILL be cut significantly. It might take longer or it might mean a few days inconvenience because of a strike, but it seems WW has already decided.

Any dates for industrial action?
 

Hi Guys n Gals,
Just a quick question - are they any definitive dates yet for proposed industrial action? I'm hearing 'the end of January' on the radio (LBC 97.3) but wondered if anyone knows anything more?
I'm asking because I have a family trip to Canada around that time and don't want to get stranded.
Best wishes to all our crews. You have to fight your corner accordingly. Good luck. :)

I just want to correct something GS Alpha said. The workforce wasn't replaced at LGW by the 6 month temps from LHR. At the end of their 6 months, they had the option to leave or go to the Single Fleet. There was nowhere near enough of them to 'replace' us. If the Single Fleet at LGW hadn't have happened, most of us would be happy to stay at LGW and the recruitment drive wouldn't have happened. There was a massive recruitment drive in the summer for the new fleet, not euroLGW.

LHR_777, there is no date as yet. However, the union (BASSA) have to give a minimum of 7 days notice to BA of strike action and the strike has to happen within 28 days of this notice. All ballot papers have to be in by 12th Jan, so you can safely say it'll happen (if a yes vote is received) between 15th Jan and 12th Feb.

That's right there were 400 temps recruited for the summer (there are 10,000 permanent cabin crew employed at LHR). At the end of their temp contract they were given the option of commencing a LGW Single Fleet contract under the LGW SF terms and conditions.

LHR_777 no dates have yet to be announced. I guess shortest possible notice = maximum disruption. However, the ballot will close on Jan 12th. The results will be announced at a union meeting on the 15th. By law, BASSA then needs to give 7 days notice to BA and any action must be undertaken within four weeks.

Just one point to make: THIS INDUSTRIAL ACTION IS NOT ABOUT CHANGES TO OUR AGREEMENTS, TERMS AND CONDITIONS. NONE HAVE BEEN IMPOSED (with the exception of changes to the attendance management process).

HOWEVER, relations between BA and BOTH cabin crew unions is at an all time low. We are basically being balloted on a 'breakdown in industrial relations'. This IS a crucial vote. Both BA and BASSA are awaiting the result of the ballot with great anxiety. if there is a low turnout for a YES vote, then that will be the end of BASSA's strength and BA WILL BEGIN IMPOSING CHANGES TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS.
The main purpose of this ballot is to show BA management that we ARE united and that we will NOT accept the sort of 'bully boy' tactics being employed by some of our management (particularly one ex QF manager recently recruited).

The true cost of any industrial action to BA is incalculatable. BA cannot afford another PR disaster.

Although Willie Walsh as CEO has significant sway at BA he still needs to answer to the BA board of Directors. He will need to tread, therefore, very very carefully. Do you meet halfway with the unions? Or do you risk turning the perception of BA into another Alitalia or Olympic? There is still alot BA can do to win the siutation. The union has thrown as many issues into the pot as possible so that it will gauge maximum YES votes from crew. At least 1 or the 12 issues will effect every individual crew member. Whispers have started that management will start doing deals on certain issues, fragmenting support. There will be swayers that will throw in the towel for their own gains.

An interesting post keeperboy. May I ask in your opinion what would constitute BA meeting BASSA half way? Over the last 5 years BASSA has vehemently opposed virtually every change in working practices BA has suggested, and IFS have been shielded from most demands for change by Mike Street. Now MS has gone there is huge pressure on IFS and other former Street departments to start contributing to the savings. BASSA decry every effort to change as an attack on their members. Where is the middle ground and what are BASSA members prepared to give up in order to meet BA half way?

How many of the original long haul cabin crew have elected to remain at LGW? I believe it is a very small number. Therefore long haul LGW cabin crew were effectively replaced.

We didn't really have much choice. The 3 options put to us were, a) take serverance, b) change onto the LGW SF contract or c) transfer to LHR. If you speak to many LGW WW crew, many would have seriously considered staying had we not have to change contract and our terms and conditions.

Your post implies that we were all 'replaced' by the temp crew from LHR, this cannot be the case as there are simply not enough of them. In fact, I believe very few opted to stay with the company and move fleets to LGW.

Off stand - from my original post:

"replaced the whole workforce of long haul Gatwick crews by using 6 month temporary contractors at Heathrow and upping recruitment at shorthaul Gatwick for a while before hand."

So I wasn't suggesting they were simply replaced by the temporary contract crew. It was a mixture. I also agree that you did not have much choice. And this too was my point. Willie will work out how to do things without giving you much choice. The attack on your terms and conditions will only happen when you are at market rate. Currently, you are not. I do not blame you one bit for trying to protect what you have, and I will personally support you, but whilst you might win the odd battle, you are unlikely to win the war.

I don't think a strike will make it any better for either side and no doubt, BA have will do all possible to avoid it.

My piont is that, no matter what occupation you do, you choose it because you enjoy it. Majority of BA crew like their jobs. We don't want to be school teachers, nurses or police officers. If BA get their way and totally erode our contracts to nothing, many of us will be put in a position where we just can't afford to work there anymore. Lets face it - when T5 comes along, BA will be saving plenty of money on box payments alone.

It's a real shame for people to be put in a position of possibily having to leave a job because their employer is only focused on one thing. People who enjoy their jobs breed happy customers - we all know that.

Sure .... We can be replaced. However, BA have already struggled to recruit crew particularly for the new LGW SF as the contract is crap. Many of the temps I spoke to have no intention of staying at LGW so BA have wasted their money on them and they will have to be replaced too.

The best way forwrad is to get talking again for all our sakes. The most worrying thing in my opinion is that WW has a reputation as a fiece formidable character who simply wont back down at any price!

I desperately hope I am wrong. :{

Unfortunatly the only person who will win out of any Cabin Crew strike will be Richard Branson who will sweep up a lot annoyed passengers.

GS-Alpha: Yes, it was a pleasant surprise about the teachers' salaries, as I have always heard about how they (and other key workers) earn so little - and I think it's a disgrace. I also live in London, so I know how high the cost of living is here. The reason why I was pleasantly surprised is because I have had enough of all this now and wish to re-train as a teacher, so I will not be taking the drop in salary that I feared.

Let me make it clear that I do not want a strike, but I want to make my voice heard in order that my management acknowledges my concerns. But the management have put themselves in a dangerous position when their employees feel they have nothing to lose anymore.

Carnage-Matey: BASSA is not a few militant people in an office, but representatives of the cabin crew community. So it is incorrect to say that we have not met BA management halfway on some issues: Our reps urged us not to accept the EG300 (turns out they were correct), but we as a union agreed to have it implemented; our reps urged those as LGW not to accept the SF-LGW, but we agreed to it (again, to our peril); post Sept 11th, we as a union agreed to help cut costs by signing up to the TEMPORARY removal of a crew member from our longhaul aircraft - and that has become a PERMANENT removal, bringing us below the level of crew complements on airlines such as Singapore, Malaysia, JAL, ANA, Virgin, etc. So it cannot be said that we don't make concessions.

I have been looking with interest at the other airlines' threads on this forum and have noted that the spin about BA cabin crew being the most expensive in the world is utter nonsense. Perhaps those on the old contract used to be paid above industry rates, but that is no longer the case. I have worked for the company for 10 years and I am paid pretty much the same as Virgin, less that Emirates and JAL, and more than Easyjet. I signed a contract prior to starting my course at BA and at the end of the 6 weeks, was given another contract to sign - cutting my salary effectively in half. I was told that I had to sign it or leave. That was a great start to my flying career. (One would wonder how that was legal, but 'zay hef vays and means'...) But at least there was the prospect then of going for promotion to increase my earning potential. That option has now been removed from me. I am working harder than ever; downroute time off has been reduced; the crew complement has been reduced; transport has been reduced (Central area bus and the 285; I can't afford a car - I know: boo-hoo, poor me); I have never called in sick when I have not been genuinely ill, but the EG300 makes me sufficiently scared that I operated to SFO recently with a streaming nose, sneezing on those poor Club passengers; some of our hotels have been down-graded (yes, I know: poor us, but it is the thin edge of the wedge, isn't it?); and the list continues. Yes, I know change is inevitable in our share-holder driven world, but at some point, enough is enough. Contributors keep on pointing out that other air crew have worse conditions - and that is exactly the point. When there is a united front and you are working for a profitable company that can afford to reward its managers and directors with the kind of bonuses that have been bandied about, it would only be someone very short on brains who would say: "after 10 years of loyal service you wish to make changes to my working conditions and pay, and remove the possibility of promotion for me? Sure go ahead." I have nothing to lose anymore. I love my job and know from passengers, cabin crew and flight crew alike, that I am very good at it. But I will put up a fight to protect my corner until WW DOES get his way (which I belive is inevitable) and replaces us with the like of McDonald's employees. I am going, I accept that, but not without a fight.

LHR-777: I am in the same boat as you. I am due to take my annual leave over the time of the proposed strike, but it is a price I am willing to pay. Hope you and your family get away ok.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I appreciate and admire your stance, however, it's not a price I'm willing to pay when I have to be somewhere for a specific date, so my money has gone to American Airlines for confirmed, commercial tickets instead. I just don't need the uncertainty of either not getting to Montreal, or getting stranded when I'm in Toronto and not being able to get back home in time.

I have to disagree with you. BASSA IS a few militant reps in an office who don't so much represent the cabin crew community as lead them by the nose to BASSAs own agenda. Take the recent farce of the strike ballot. It was decided on a show of hands of less than 1% of your community and issued before anybody knew what it was about. Now we have the place being plastered with "Vote Yes" stickers but half the members don't know what they are voting yes for. The BASSA Newsletter was such an appalling work of fiction I thought I could have been reading the Daily Sport! "FACT" my @arse!

Your knowledge of history is somewhat selective too. BASSA recommended you voted for EG300 and you took the money BA offered, which is why it's a bit rich for you to know complain that you don't like it. I don't know about the background to SFG. I do know that people like to bring up the removal of the 16th crew member from the 747 (note that this was at a time that the seating capacity was reducing from 395 to 351 or 295). That may indeed take us below the crew complement of Singapore, Malaysia, JAL, ANA, Virgin etc but they also squeeze a lot more passengers on their aircraft and Virgin regularly fly one or more crew members down.

Please, don't even go there. Anyone who's seen the figures knows that is untrue, unless after ten years you regularly take home less than £1300 per month.

What I would like to see is a list of all the savings BA crew at LHR think they have made in the last five years. As far as I can see they consist of one crew member of the 747.

Carnage Matey, you must be reading different BASSA missives to me. I don't know where this idea has sprung from that the breakdown in IR is a recent event and we haven't been banging our heads against a brick wall for years. As you well know, with our flying schedules and the fact that many of us commute or live quite a distance from the airport, it is very rare that we are all able to attend these meetings. That is why we have the BASSA forum and noticeboards on the internet. We feel safe and secure enough to raise our concerns with our reps (who, as you know, are also crew and, therefore, share the same concerns.) I have never been led blindly by my union and have always made my own decisions based on information I can glean from the tools at my disposal. I have never been militant in the slightest, but if even a reasonable person such as myself, is contemplating strike action, then there must be something wrong with picture. I feel very let down by the management. I agree some crew were not informed about what they were voting on, which is why a newsletter was dispatched and, while it may not be in the tone you or I (being reasonable, rational people?) might correspond, that is what we pay them for: on the one hand I have my management telling me lies and reneging on agreements, and on the other I have reps baying for blood. So I stand in the middle and read both sides, draw on my own experience and then make my decision. Too many of us in the crew community feel the same for it to be dismissed as a militant few.
Regarding the EG300, BASSA did not tell me which way to vote but asked us to read all the facts carefully before voting. Which I did, according to my conscience. Ooh, gosh, I think I may have contributed to saving the company some money there. Careful! Now the management has reneged on their agreement (something that I believe the flight crew community also has issues with. I flew recently with a 747 Captain who said, "The day the first Flight Crew is dismissed under EG300, is the day I strike". Maybe that was just his opinion, though.) and people like me who are genuinely ill, feel compelled to come to work no matter how unprofessional we appear to our passengers or how it may affect our cabin and flight crew colleagues down the line. (c/f my SFO)

The removal of Nos. 16 and 11 was another cost-saving we agreed to in the light of BA heading for bankruptcy post Sept 11th. They promised to bring them back when we were back in the black again, but now, only because of pressure from our union do we have them re-instated on 10 of 73 747/777 destinations. And the reason given was due to those flights being incredibly taxing, rather than anything to do with seat configuration. Let's be clear, though, that removing World Traveller seats does not equate to less work. They replaced those seats with Club seats, albeit less seats. I regularly choose to work in Traveller now as it is less demanding than the Club service. I have face-to-face interaction with a World Traveller passenger an average of about 7 times on a transatlantic flight; I have interact with a Club passenger a minimum of 20 times on that same flight. The Club service on a high-J is almost invariably the last to complete the meal service. The removal of the 16 and 11 has resulted in a significant increase in the work load.

I mentioned that after 10 years with the company I am paid the same as a Virgin crew member. And I stand by that. I have 2 friends who work for Virgin (one has been working for 2 years, and the other for 3.5 years). Sometimes they take home less than me and sometimes more. As I mentioned, I AM on the new payscale. I said "AFTER 10 YEARS". If I had applied for Virgin instead of BA, I would most likely be a Number 1 by now and reap the resulting increase in my wages. At BA, I have been giving chicken and beef out now for 10 years and it's getting a little dull. Not even First trained yet. And no Promotion in sight for a great many years. Hence the change in career.

LHR-777: I, like most of the crew community, do not want a strike - I just want my managers to start managing the company coffers correctly and keep their dirty mitts off my money. That doesn't help you, I know. But I am not taking any chances with my holiday either, which is why Virgin, via Touchdown, is getting my money. Sad, isn't it?

C.M.
I guess your not one of the "I wish BALPA was more like BASSA" pilots then, when EG300 was agreed to by BALPA long before it was by cabin crew. Indeed there are many pilots out there who believe BALPA could be "a bit more mlitant" now and again.
I'm not saying negotiation isn't the best way forward, and admire the way BALPA has carried on during the pensions negotiations. Something I think our unions could learn a lot from.
Obviously BALPA has it's faults too and I'm sure Rob Hall shared a few of them with good old BA when he sold you all down the river.
But less said about that one the better I guess.
Not many ex union reps from the crew community in management jobs now that I know of.......
I'm in CC89 by the way.

"Rob Hall selling us down the river" is somewhat subjective, and certainly not my view. There were inevitably aspects of our pay deal which lead to unforeseen disadvantages but on the whole we came out of the whole thing very well as a community. I haven't seen the cabin crew unions make such gains any time recently. EG300 is a pain, it was signed up to without consultation by a single BALPA rep and he was thrown out at the next elections. Lesson learned there, but its frankly not that big a deal to me. We had less than half the sickness of cabin crew before EG300, despite our more stringent medical requirements, and still have much lower sickness levels. EG300 has not changed the way I or any of my mates operate. We are our own judges of our fitness to fly and we do or don't according to how we feel and not because of the fear of an interview with a junior office dweller. If some people feel intimidated by that well thats unfortunate. I don't. Personally I don't want BALPA to be more like BASSA and I wouldn't be a member if they were. I don't want to be told what to think and I want to achieve something more than just saying no.

PS The reason there aren't many ex-CC union reps in management jobs is because they lack the appropriate skills. I think that says more about the calibre of your reps than ours, something which is reflected in the results they achieve. I never fail to be amazed by the appaulling[sic] spelling in the BASSA newsletter.:)

Carnage Matey, despite your disdain - verging on bitterness - towards cabin crews, you seem to spend more time on this section of the forum than any other. You would appear to have such a specialist knowledge of BA cabin crew terms, conditions and agreements that it would surely guarantee you a top score on Mastermind - with no passes!
Would it not be of more (professional) use for you to be on the pilot pages talking over things like the most appropriate moment to press autopilot or even how to get passengers from A to B with the cabin crew on strike? When the crew do go on strike, you'll probably have to make tea yourself and while pressing the "brew" button does require some skill, it is as easy as presing "autopilot". PM me, if you need further instructions.

Cargo only?
 

Just had a thought. If and when the cabin crew do go on strike, will the aircraft continue to operate with just cargo in the hold and thus potentially still make some money?

Unlikely, BA 'management' aren't that clever.

I agree that it would sense, even if not a profit, to keep regular contracts sweet, and maybe even pick up some extra work, but I refer my friend to the answer at the top:mad:

Amicus Member
 

Hi guys, I'm an Amicus member of crew at LGW SF. I totally agree with the strike, I would strike for the breakfast allowance at LGW alone. I know that a few of my colleagues at LGW are also Amicus members and in favour of striking however, we have not been part of the ballot process. Does this mean that we don't have the right to strike and if we do, do we have a leg to stand on as it seems to be a BASSA thing? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Tofster, i am afraid you cannot skrike until your union has balloted for it. If you do, it iwll be considered as an illegal strike and thus could lose your job. Sad, but true.

I only asked about the cargo thing as earlier this year when we were short of crew, I believe aircarft were sent out empty but packed full of cargo and thus were worth while sending there and back. Obviously, it would only be worth while to some destinations.

I think that apart from the many issues that are being balloted on, the overriding dissatisfaction is with the ways our (new) management seem to work.

Come in - slash slash slash - obtain massive goody bag of £££ - leave.

We never make enough profits (despite being one of the most profitable airlines in the world). We are never working hard enough. We are too expensive. This is all we ever hear.

Carnage, i totally agree with a lot you say about BASSA (this despite being a BASSA member). They are somewhat inflexible and militant and i wouldn't like to be an employer having to deal with them.

Saying that, even AMICUS have publicly stated that the BA management are treating them like crap and that more 'formal' discussions (read notification of ballot) will need to take place if BA isn't more forthcoming.

I'm not going to get into discussions about the number of Pursers we have (yes, we do have too many of the 747) or the loss of a crew member post 2001 etc. I believe these are all side issues.

The real issue (for me personally) is EG300 and our inept management. Management that don't seem to be able to see further than their next bonus/profit share.

EG300 is a farce. How can an operation under general anaesthetic NOT be discounted under EG300??? I had my appendix out 3 months ago and was off ten days. At my Attendance Review Interview I was told I had 'triggered an occassion' because they only 'discount' 48 hours after a general anaesthetic. Are they saying I should be back flying after 48 hours of having my appendix taken out??

I believe that BA and BASSA should engage an Independent Arbitrator.

Well you're flexible if nothing else Miche2. Having already pointed out the stock response of most crew is to say that I hate them, you subtley change it to "disdain - verging on bitterness". However as I previously stated, insults don't really at to the debate and are more suited to the BASSA forum than so please refrain. Do you ever wonder how I have such a good knowledge of cabin crew agreements if I dislike the crew so much? Somebodys got to tell me about them. I could discuss more things on the technical forums, but there are plenty of qualified people to discuss the appropriate time to engage the autopilot and those who blatantly fib or are selective with the truth are quickly exposed by others, so I tend to fill that role here instead! Anyway, I know how to work a bev maker and an oven thank you very much (you know we fly aircraft around empty sometimes). Can you tell me the necessary prerequisites for autopilot engagement?

carnage matey - yawn!

Maybe it's time to get back to the issue in question.

Tofster, you're not alone there. I suggest you join us in the conversation on the BA cabin crew forum (via ESS) the last point is all about LGW breakfast (and sadly is the only point about us, if you do not consider EG300, and the only one that mentions us).
I would urge you to join us as the more the better. Both WLITS and myself have started a thread asking for clarifications. The response I got from Mike-somebody has left me without words.
(BTW WLITS I have posted my reply to mr Mike on your thread)

And no, until Amicus ballot us, Amicus members cannot do anything "legal".
It looks like if a strike is going to happen I will already be on mat. leave, which is a shame, for Mike-somebody's WORDS alone I feel like striking, but not the silent way, the proper way like Alitalia, AirOne, Volare, Meridiana and AirEurope used to do in Italy - going in the streets making life difficult for those people who really COUNT.

Aircarft ABOVE 1,000ft radio and in trim.

Asking a 737 pilot is cheating.:= Go and sit in the naughty corner.:}

Hahahaha! :E I would love to be spanked right now, but I have to disagree.....he's away on a long trip....I just happen to sit in the F/D VERY often, and I do revise for his sims with him (I am just a veeeeeery helpful, understanding girl!!) :ok:

O.M.G I thought this was a serious forum for serious people! Enough about spanking and naughty corners....please....or else! :8 I'll have to get naughty!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hahahahaha! Serious but naughty people are what we need! Even the longest doubles (fix-linked even:ouch: ) feel shorter than some boring MAN there& back's when you work with seriously naughty people on both sides of the bullet-proof door!! :E

Good, healthy naughtiness is always welcome on any one of my flights, and we always end up having a laugh (even when flying with some sort of mummies!!) :}

These IR issues have been spoiling my otheriwse reasonably good mood, so it was time for a break - thanks CM for giving me the opportunity to have a laugh! On that note....Tea anyone? Oh wait, I have to look up in my manual how to operate the Brew switch first :E :E :E

FBW x

I just need to add to this forum that at LGW BA cc don't earn more than £1100 on average, so that should put things into perspective now.

So true. But then if you've had a look at the ba forums on ess there's only ONE point (the last) that mentions us. And it's the breakfast allowance that they want to take away from our short haul flights (and not give it to us on long haul) for an increase in pay of 9p per hour.:rolleyes: