BA Strike - Your Thoughts & Questions II

[Diplome]

Mariner9:

Interesting. The more I read regarding BASSA's continued performance the more I am pleased that BA has afforded non-member crew to make their own agreement with BA.

I believe there is high likelihood that BA has simply had enough of BASSA's unprofessionalism and are going to continue on and make them as irrelevant as possible which may be for the best for both BA and crew.

Redcap49:

Most individuals are quoting Mixed Fleet with the base and hourly but wasn't there also something about the ability for performance bonuses or am I simply not recalling the offer correctly?

Wiggy:

lol. Somehow the idea of Balpa members and its leadership cavorting with members of the Socialist Workers Union the way that the BASSA militants do seems impossible. Definitely a typo that made me smile.

[The SSK]

Mariner9 - or it could just be that as the company reverts to growth mode, the savings arising from a lower cost base will alos grow, in absolute terms.

[Ancient Observer]

Johno,
Yes, bassa and their "sympathisers" have obviously decided to put some effort in to that new spin, (aswell as putting effort in to re-writing history)

[Redcap49]

Diplome

Cant find anything other than basic salary plus hourly flight pay for New Fleet.There is a statement on the Mixed Fleet recruitment page which states that crew will be '' recognised and rewarded for the outstanding performance you demonstrate''.However,that doesn't necessarily mean financially.

[Ancient Observer]

Diplome, Wiggy,

At the risk of sounding a bit like an anorak, Chris Darke, who was the Gen Sec of Balpa from about 1992 did know some of the SW crowd, not through personal allegiance, but through his previous role at ASTMS (OK, later called MSF).
So Balpa are as capable as bassa at "being associated with" Socialist Worker.
They used to meet at a charming Westminster venue, which no longer exists, called the Victoria Club.

"Creative External Redeployment", anyone?

[Diplome]

Ancient Observer:

With all due respect, I don't expect to see groups of flight deck crew partying with the Socialist Worker crowd like those at Bedfont.

Both for reasons of personal selection and because its members understand just how damaging that is to public perceptions.

I've been giving some thought to your past comments regarding BA's difficulty with managers. Will be interesting, now that BA has shown strength regarding dealing with BASSA, if they continue with changing the mindset and performance of its managers.

I'm rather optomistic at the moment...not ecstatic, but optomistic.

[Neptunus Rex]

KISS

Having read 't'other thread,' why is the pay structure all so complicated? It must take a battalion of accounts staff to sort it all out each month. Why cannot they have:
Salary according to position and seniority
Overtime
Allowances paid in cash at HOTAC check-in
Any anomalies

Er...that's it. Seemed to work in my old company.

[wascrew]

cheaper

neptunus


Things move on .......something the striking crew would do well to appreciate too

``Allowances paid in cash at HOTAC check-in``

It is cheaper (to BA) to have allowances paid and distributed by card anD dare i say it better for the crew too

[LD12986]

Having read 't'other thread,' why is the pay structure all so complicated? It must take a battalion of accounts staff to sort it all out each month. Why cannot they have:
Salary according to position and seniority
Overtime
Allowances paid in cash at HOTAC check-in
Any anomalies

Er...that's it. Seemed to work in my old company.

It's a hangover from the historical approach of throwing money at crew to make BASSA go away. I'm sure hundreds of thousands could be saved in administration costs by replacing the current system of box payments, destination payments, one down payments etc with a simple hourly rate. It would mean crew would have more consistent earnings every month. You could say it is a "win win". But it would mean that those in the know would no longer be able to play the system.

[fincastle84]

Is it my imagination or is this dispute just withering on the vine? Discussions on both this & the CC thread seem to be drifting without any direction. I guess that this means that Mr Walsh has won, just like the Spanish!

[fincastle84]

Baggersup

I totally agree. There is a hard core of CC, not all members of Bassa, who are totally self absorbed in protecting their allowances & outdated T&Cs. I guess that this self absorbed navel gazing is a hangover from the many years of weak management at BA.
However, I still believe that the majority now realise that the game's up & they have to accept the latest offer & get on with their lives. I sincerely hope that I won't be disappointed.

[Tigger4Me]

Baggersup

Willie Walsh had previously stated that in the event of further IA he would be operating 100% of his long haul routes. In a report from Reuters yesterday he is now stating 100% of ALL services will operate. I don't know if this is sufficient enough for you to readvise your friends as you seemed reluctant to turn them away from BA in the first place.

[manintheback]

I think I may actually have some sympathy for BASSAs claim that BA management are the ones destryoing the airline. Just brought a Biz class ticket to Toronto and they want...wait for it........another £120!!!!! to choose my seat at time of booking - who on earth came up with that figure to charge and for a customer who just paid several thousand for a ticket - utter madness.

[johnoWhiskyX]

@manintheback

And why do you think BA are saying they have to reduce costs?

[RTR]

I think I may actually have some sympathy for BASSAs claim that BA management are the ones destroying the airline. Just brought a Biz class ticket to Toronto and they want...wait for it........another £120!!!!!

Just a normal everyday occurrence on nearly all airlines these days. Those not doing it will be doing so soon. Don't Virgin charge for a booked seat? I think you'll find they do.

[fincastle84]

maninthe back

Just brought a Biz class ticket to Toronto and they want...wait for it........another £120!!!!! to choose my seat at time of booking

That's fairly common practice these days. You need to be silver or gold to avoid the fee. Alternatively, why bother on such a short route. There'll be plenty of choice 24 hours before departure.

At least the way the strike is crumbling you can sleep safe in the knowledge that the flights will operate.

[ExXB]

I think this seat-pay was one of BA's less successful income generators in terms of customer service and generally narking off pax who aren't Gold, Silver or full fare, if other forums where this is widely discussed can be believed.

Agree. They also have much better ways off narking off their Gold and Silver Pax. They do it very well.

[PAXboy]

ExXB

They also have much better ways off narking off their Gold and Silver Pax.

You get what you pay for and you have to credit BA, they give a better class of narking off - it's Upper Class narking.

[slf22]

Originally Posted by manintheback

I think I may actually have some sympathy for BASSAs claim that BA management are the ones destryoing the airline. Just brought a Biz class ticket to Toronto and they want...wait for it........another £120!!!!! to choose my seat at time of booking - who on earth came up with that figure to charge and for a customer who just paid several thousand for a ticket - utter madness.

Of course the other way of looking at is if BASSA hadn't been quite so intransigent BA's management might not have been looking to make money by charging passengers for services they previously provided free.

Also I'm sure that I heard this is quite a successful revenue stream for BA, they recently put the prices up.

[Diplome]

PAXboy:

You get what you pay for and you have to credit BA, they give a better class of narking off - it's Upper Class narking

THAT comment nearly caused a fine mixture of Vodka and Tonic to shower my keyboard.

There is a statement on the main CC board that gives me shivers as being too close to what Ms. Malone was advocating in a recent vote (which caused a reballoting). BA does not need or, I hope, want to play this game.

I think we will all get the BA offer because BA has no way of knowing if we are current members or not. They are leaving it up to us to sign if we left before 25th or not sign.

I am pretty sure that you could sign the BA contract if you were still in the union because it would only be your word against theirs about when you left.....

http://www.pprune.org/cabin-crew/418...f-only-49.html