'Champagne Charlie' is a music hall song for those fortunate enough to have experienced that fantastic medium of mirthful and talented diversion, guided by the talents of that priceless manipulator of both audience and performers, the compere!
Any comparison of music hall with the present attendant goings on in certain union circles only serves to remind one of the excellence of entertainment of the former with the quite incomprehensible mirthless moronity of the latter.

In cultish terms, if we exclude Aleister Crowley, the usual definition would seem to imply manipulation, control and exploitation of a group of individuals by the leaders. That seems a reasonably justified, if slightly derogatory, definition to apply collectively to certain members of one or two distinct British unions.
In cinematographic history it is interesting to see that Zombies have also often been considered as members of a cult in various horror movies. Happily, there usually appears to be a permanent solution to that particular affliction.

'

Do cultish people get the chance to vote in secret postal ballots?

Ancient Observer:

I did indulge in a bit of learning curve regarding "Champagne Charlie" this afternoon and believe that it was hardly an "insult" to sear the hide of anything but the most soft of creatures.

As to the indentity of "Ava" I have no interest. If in reality "she" is a singular individual she truly is between a rock and a hard place but one that she squeezed herself into. There are far too many BA employees truly examining the issues and seriously considering their options to be nothing more than confused and a bit amused by those who are wearing blinders.

I'm looking for three or four short adventures for my hubby and I (his schedule simply will not allow for extended vacations), am specifically flying BA, and must agree with Ancient Observer. As SLF that views her flying time as an opportunity to be indulged the choice between being served by those Cabin Crew who worked through the strike, took the heat not only for their airline but for the co-workers in loading, passengers, etc., and being served by one of the individuals from Bedfont (spelling?) is the difference between booking Helen Mirren and getting Katie Price.

BA will survive this and I'm hopeful that the more fabulous of its Cabin Crew are able to instill their brand on the company again.

A more appropriate term would be 'Champagne Socialists.' It defines the latent hypocrisy of those who purport to be Socialists but are extremely wealthy. Most Union leaders are in this category, having risen well above the wildest aspirations of their own rank and file.

Do cultish people get the chance to vote in secret postal ballots?

Only if they are Zombies.

What, like this democratic and secret BASSA vote????

YouTube - BA staff to vote on strike again

Cult
 

cult, n. system of religious worship; devotion, homage to person or thing

Describes the unquestioning and unthinking followers of DH, LM and the Bassa hierarchy perfectly, I would have thought.

That is strange. I was out with a BA crew member last night and he definitely did not show any of those traits with regard to BASSA. I did not question him on his God however.

Mocamps
 

What an intelligent post. As a retired Bcal/BA pilot I am not allowed to go on the BA/Bassa site, but I would like this to get to the moderator of the site. It is now getting to be a nasty squabble between cc which brings in another, more serious topic, namely positioning to go to work, as described by the JNB lady. CC positioning is bad enough, but BA for years (As regrettably not noticed by the Flight Ops Section of the CAA) have allowed many pilots living abroad to commute. The Company are not allowed to schedule such a duty period, but it seems to be tolerated if opted by the individual crew member. After the recent fatal accident in the US where the crew commuted from Seattle and California to New York before their flight and "rested" in the crewroom, at long last the NTSB have taken an interest.
Perhaps this should now be addressed by both BA and the CAA.
One further shot in the foot by Bassa, cc crew allowances, especially in JFK. Take a look at the hotel "crew room/ party room" with microwaves and coffee machines. Nobody (cc) ever spends their meal allowance, so HMRC will eventually take note. Moderator, pull the plug !

Tightslot:

Do we really sound that abusive? I will admit, as a frequent flyer, that I'm approaching this with must be, as balanced as I try to stay, a biased view.

But are we really that out of line? I view the CC thread as much more contentious, though their issues are different than passengers.

I won't kick my dog (as I don't have one), hubby is at a meeting, so perhaps a walk in the garden with a VT is in order.

robert
 

Here we go again. Being a commuter does not automatically mean being in breach of FTL's - many/most commuters are well aware of their obligations - which is exactly why I'm holed up writing this in a B&B near my base tonight , rather than pushing the limits by commuting and then operating tomorrow..and I'm not the only one with a similar sense of responsibility.

Wiggy
 

You do not say if you are cc or flight deck, but the rules applies to ALL, not most ! Get yourself a copy of Flight Crew Orders, or better still the CAA ANO's, and then see if your colleagues are aware of the requirements. I sat in Club a while ago whilst taxying out on an ATL flight listening to a cc dscribe how they had diverted to Stansted yesterday on a back to back, got transport back to LGW by late pm but still checked in for 9 am check in. By my calculation they were way out of duty hours, but their topic was the extra money involved made it all worth while. With the BA system I doubt the Captain was aware of his cc hours.

Having stayed in the crew hotel in NYC more than 30 times could you tell me where the microwave is please?

There is a flask of coffee at certain times of the day I'll admit.

Now you're just making stuff up.

Let us know the FTL details but I cant see any way that a 2 sector ex USA day would make a following days trip illegal. The max duty time is simply not enough.

Especially as BA don't fly from LGW to ATL

Bill Francis moves to get CC to leave the union?
 

There is some conjecture on the other thread that BF's latest missive is an attempt to get non strikers to leave the union in order that they might individually sign up to the latest offer. It seems that union members will be governed by the union's response. Whether this is true or not, the BASSA membership continues to slide. Now down to 9775 an counting (downwards).

A BA director is trying to coerce and employee to leave a union? Is that allowed?!

Who knows?

No one who has read the ESS mail detailing the new offer could suggest he's doing anything of the sort.

Indeed rather the opposit, if you were a member of the union the offer isnt available to you to decide on individually as you have choosen to let your reps have that power, even if you left the moment you recieved the mail, too late.

No benefit in leaving, therefore no encouragement to do so on the part of BA. To have done so would have indeed have been unlawful - which is why they didnt.