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BA pilots 'prepared to strike'?

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Old 14th Nov 2006, 09:19
  #981 (permalink)  
 
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Clue-less, not-enough-to-do of Texas strikes again! What can you POSSIBLY know of BA and BALPA from your tumble-weed hideout?

Just watch for a while. You will be contradicted by events.

Whilst we are at it, what exactly happened during your "career" that so embittered you against your own profession? Entertain us with something you do know about, rather than sermonising from afar about something you dont.

Last edited by ShortfinalFred; 14th Nov 2006 at 09:34.
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 15:51
  #982 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by 411A
Indeed you are, unwiseowl, and we all wait with baited breath for the other BA FD crew shoe to drop.
OK 411A, I'll take the bait.
I've no idea where you come from, but your comments about Beaver Eager are bizarre in the extreme.
Even if he were a copilot (which he isn't) it would be a mighty error to assume he is a newcomer to the aviation scene. BA recruit pilots from a multitude of backgrounds; all start at the bottom of the seniority list as the most junior copilot, whether they have 500 hours or 15,000 hours.
28L (BA 744 Captain, but I'm not sure what pigeon-hole that puts me in....54 years old, grey (balding, even), zimmer-frame stowed in the Flight Deck

BTW From what I can glean from discussions downroute and in the FD, the BA pilots are fully behind BALPA on the pension issue.
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 17:23
  #983 (permalink)  
 
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Ba pension problem

Sorry guys but you are on a mission which will end up with you getting even less than on offer at the moment, W. Walsh will not back down in my view. I as a an APS pilot pensioner will not lie down and let you put the company in hock and put my pension at risk and that is the also the view of APS trustees according to their correspondence. You are not the only players in this game. You may wish to go over the cliff but the APS pensioners will not join you.
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 17:28
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since this thread has hit a magic 1000 contributions here's mine.

ill wait table's and learn to be a plumber before i'll let this evil little dwarf, assisted by his pathetic and self serving flt ops managers, take away what was promised to me and my family when they recruited me to BA.

i have no doubt that long before we reach the point were BA is wound up by PWC the board will have seen the light and moved our nasty unworthy ceo out the door. if they don't then to be honest i'll be past caring.

we either fight to keep a pension that rewards our efforts or we meekly accept ww's desire to take our future financial stabilty from us. i will be unable to look at myself in a mirror if we lose and i stay working at BA.

and lets not get started on the effective loss of our management concessions in the staff travel re-vamp, well it upsets the cc doesn't it. we are all equal, only some of us are more equal! what's next? i pay for my uniform and type rating to ensure lcg's next 340k bonus?. we lose these fights were will it end.

an airline that thinks engineers and pilots are expensive luxuries is one for which i'm not sure i want to invest any more faith, trust and time in. after 16 years in the cockpit i've never felt lower or less appreciated. i honestly couldn't care less if BA survives anymore. i know i won't accept it at the expense of my familys future. the company goes down, my next job can't be for anybody worse than this group of greedy chancers.

loyalty has no value, apparently.

i know my self repsect has.
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 17:40
  #985 (permalink)  
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Whoopx3,

I appreciate what you're saying, although it is irrelevant whether the APS pensioners support us or not. However from your point of view, APS is fully funded, viable and safe. If you are a pensioner, you have first call on it's funds so you are unlikely to be affected even if BA were to go bust (which I very much doubt).

I have an APS pilot connection as well, although I'm obviously not a member of it, so I'm well aware of the feelings of the members.
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 17:52
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Ba pension problem

Alas you are simplifying the problem, APS has a small surplus and Ba is putting 24m a year into it. If Ba goes bust APS will have to rely on its own resources which if we go into high inflation will result in APS pensioners being affected badly. If any deal is agreed that puts APS pensioners at risk it is inevitable that APS trustees will go to court to have such a deal blocked, it is their legal obligation as trustees to look after the APS pensioners nobody else. This is what I mean when I say that BALPA ,NAPS ,etc are not the only game in town.
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 17:54
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Wink

Originally Posted by WhoopWhoop Whoops
Sorry guys but you are on a mission which will end up with you getting even less than on offer at the moment, W. Walsh will not back down in my view. I as a an APS pilot pensioner will not lie down and let you put the company in hock and put my pension at risk and that is the also the view of APS trustees according to their correspondence. You are not the only players in this game. You may wish to go over the cliff but the APS pensioners will not join you.
enjoy your aps pension. not sure what sort of care home your in but your aps pension is in surplus and protected. please let me know if i'm wrong.

that aside the jist of your argument is that you got the best pension known to man and that i should take a 50% reduction in mine to protect yours!

maybee if you and your era had spent a bit more time maintaining the authority and postion of the pilots within flight ops we would have retained the respect and recognition we deserve. instead you allowed our status to be eroded to the point were the board actually considered putting CSD's as 2ic's.

whilst on your watch you let them shut aps, a move i fully understand as i let them shut naps. however you also let a bunch of pay deals come through to shaft various entrant types at various times, nice. not sure i agreed with that. now you think my priority should be your pension, just how arrogant and uninformed are you?

we will pick our own fights as you did a pretty poor job of looking after us ( barps, we choose not to fight, sorry). i can't wait to see what you are going to do to "not lie down".

i have never felt an ounce of resentment at the aps guys getting such a good deal. i have never resented that they didn't fight to keep aps open for me. we all should get the deal we were happy to sign up for (barps guys included). you did and i hope ur enjoying.

when we strike come down to CC (big blue building north of 27R) and tell us how we should all get back to work so that BA keeps on going so you can enjoy all the retirement rights you were promised at our expense.
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 18:05
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I hope the BA pilots defeat the proposal to retire at 65, whatever type of pension plan you happen to be on.

As a non BA BALPA member I'd be happy to see the union put its hand in its pocket because if Walsh wins this one it's going to mean a late, and short, retirement for us all.

Good luck to you.
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 18:07
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Log on, select User CP (top left), select Buddy/Ignore, Input a certain user into Ignore and sleep at night.

The option is to rise to the bait of a plonker that has flown every route, every aircraft, worked for every airline, (except BA) knew Wilbur and Orvil but obviously never in the last 100 years got around to joining a pension scheme.

Discuss the issues not the rantings of this ****.

I am now on the outside, did my 35 years, paid into the pension scheme every month of that time and am now reaping the benefits. When BA was formed I was not offered the option of a pension holiday, I was never consulted with regard to BA's pension holiday. In actual fact history shows BA never put a penny into my fund (APS part 6), they only tried to take £6,000,000 out. Mike Post (he fought our battle) deserves a medal.

I wish you all well with your fight.

PS what's this about staff travel changes?
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 18:19
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woodpecker,

don't think it will cause you any grief. they want to remove the enhanced priorities we recieve on our first and club tickets so that on-load will be by DOJ only.

apparently only the tip of the ice-berg. capt's and fo's will recieve no management on-load priority only a cabin one. not a problem for a 23 yr capt but with a large number of new pilots (1000 in the last 5 years) you can see that lots of fo's and the younger capts could find their f and j tickets virtually useless as they can't get on the aircraft in the first place.

the message is that all employees are equall unless you are management and that pilots are not managers!
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 18:45
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Ok guys and gals...

Iam a BA employee going through self-funded flying training.

Just to put all this information into context - Will the flightcrew honestly strike? Beleive me I wouldnt like to be told that my pension was basically being 'hijacked' and 'pilfered' at will by the company, that what I signed up for and paid into as per the agreement - was not going to materialise. That the management of BA (or lack of) were dictating the terms and conditions of pensions and retirement agreements...

What will it take to sort this farce out? So far the management are not backing down - and will they? Willie Wonka took on EI and slimmed it right down. Will a strike give him the chance to do the same at BA?

Tomorrow night, the ground staff at EDI will attend a very heated and fierce 'Staff Forum' with management from London, regarding their future. It looks like we will all be out the door, and a handling agent will step in with a 'cheap as chips' deal... If 450 staff from the regions can be swept aside, then beware. It may be that the savings go into the pot for the pensions - who knows
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 18:47
  #992 (permalink)  
 
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Ba Pension problems

I understand why you are so upset, but you have to deal with the facts as they are and the law as it is, not as you you would like it to be. Each group of pilots has sold the next generation down the river, my group did not save APS (however at the time I voted to pull the plug to save APS but my fellow pilots did not, at the time BA was awash with cash). Your group has allowed BARP to come into being, nobody is lilly white here. The problem is, it is just not winable, BA is not even in sole control of its destiny in this matter. The trustees are the ones in final control. To go under the illusion that the Trustees will agree to BALPA,s demands is a fantasy. The NAPS trust composition is 6 company trustees ,1 pensioner trustee, 5 employee trustees. The employees do not even control the NAPS trust. How do you expect to win.

Last edited by WhoopWhoop Whoops; 14th Nov 2006 at 19:08.
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 19:34
  #993 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by WhoopWhoop Whoops
I understand why you are so upset, but you have to deal with the facts as they are and the law as it is, not as you you would like it to be. Each group of pilots has sold the next generation down the river, my group did not save APS (however at the time I voted to pull the plug to save APS but my fellow pilots did not, at the time BA was awash with cash). Your group has allowed BARP to come into being, nobody is lilly white here. The problem is, it is just not winable, BA is not even in sole control of its destiny in this matter. The trustees are the ones in final control. To go under the illusion that the Trustees will agree to BALPA,s demands is a fantasy. The NAPS trust composition is 6 company trustees ,1 pensioner trustee, 5 employee trustees. The employees do not even control the NAPS trust. How do you expect to win.
Hey, Iam only asking a simple question. Will a strike make one bit of difference to the attitude of the Pirates running the show at Waterworld?

Look at EI (as per previous posting) Its a shadow of its former self, albeit in a much healthier state but is 'low cost' on domestic/European routes, and about to leave the OneWorld Alliance due to this.

A strike will be the straw that breaks the camels back. Once a strike is called and flights stop, the confidence from passengers, business and the city will disolve quickly and for a very very long time. WW will have no option but to 'bankrupt' the company, and then where do WE ALL go? He will be left with no alternative but to scale the operation right back (Sabena, Swissair stylee) Although these airlines failed for entirely different reasons.

Yes there will be some sort of operation eventually but can you honestly see the same set-up after the fall-out with everyone being re-employed...

As I said previously, who knows what the outcome will be. There isnt an easy answer and I genuinely feel for all caught up in this nightmare, but once you call the strike, there is no going back and you have nothing left to bargain with
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 20:38
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I am with those who would see BA go down rather than work for this management, largely a bunch of compulsive liars. Thieving our futures = the end of BA, plain and simple, if that is the way WW wants it. Better to live with dignity and re-train than to line the pockets of these money-grubbing cheats.

Those posters who think we are akin to slaves, with no choices but to take whatever BA deign to hand over are delusional.

WW has been offered a VERY fair compromise by BALPA, and he would be a fool not to take it. Pretty foolish not to examine the state of morale in his flight ops department too, but then, to a man to whom:

"Loyalty has no value",

I guess this will be unlikely.

That statement,attributed to WW, will, when the dust settles after all of this is over, resemble Mister Ratners' famous remarks to shareholders about the quality of his products.

I suggest that anyone who makes such a statement when running a service business in a competitive market place where, like it or not, the staff ARE the business, is so woefully misguided as to call in to question that individuals' suitability to run the business at all.

When all is said and done, I have a feeling that it may yet be WW who loses out of this and not the pilots. Never have I seen more anger or determination.
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 20:42
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Tristar500 - dont worry I think whoopsx3 was referring to posts before yours. However, to answer your question - yes a strike will make a difference to their attitude. WW did not have it his own way at EI (the pilots stuck together and got a pretty good outcome) and the threat of a strike will put enormous pressure on him to negotiate.

Remember - independent (PWC) analysis has clearly shown that BA can pay more than they have offered. Simple as that.

Whoopsx3 - you are correct in identifying the power of the trustees. That power could be used to stop WW wrecking the company by allowing an avoidable strike to occur.

As it stands they want me to work 30% longer, or take a 40% drop in pension.

Of course I will strike.
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 21:42
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sffred, spot on.

anger, resentment, hostility, determination, etc etc etc.

i see JR, chief at euroslave, had the audacity to tell the rest of his pilot workforce that he disapproved and found it unprofessional to discuss the pension issue on the flight deck

well jr here's some sample chat

q hows the wife
A worried about the strike

q hows the kids
a worried how their dads going to work long enough to pay their school fees and then die before he gets to see his grandkids

etc etc etc etc

i don't want to strike but faced with the alternative it will be the first time i've headed into work (2 stand on a picket of course) with a smile on my face in a long time.

whoops x 3 the reality is that ww and his cohorts have pushed me into a position were i really have nothing left to lose. possibly 20 years left and this is my little big horn. your desire to see me give up so easily for the reasons you have stated , whilst guessing the type of package your on, is the most depressing event in run of depressing encounters with BA flag wavers.

thank god your gone. your contribution to BA was no doubt long and i have no doubts that you deserve your pension. however the ceo, like you it would appear believes LOYALTY HAS NO VALUE. so i can only assume he wants me not to give a flying fig about any future but my own. he has told me that he expects me to lose so he can gain. i will tell him in a ballot that i will strike till there's nothing left to compromise over. since you don't give a hoot about the principle of people fighting for what they were promised i'm sure you won't care a jot that any knock on effect to you is an irrelevance to me.
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 22:40
  #997 (permalink)  
 
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Ba pensions problem

Everybody thinks that a strike is going to be no risk to the pilots. Has anybody thought what a strike would cost and what a revised NAPS final pension deal post strike might be after another 500m has gone down the tubes. NAPS members could end up with career average, or a 1/80 calculator or both, plus all other types of caps on pensions. What is on the table now will just disappear post strike. ITV I notice have just terminated their final salary scheme overnight to existing members, no negotiation, nothing. That is the risk.
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Old 14th Nov 2006, 23:29
  #998 (permalink)  

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Whoop x 3

You are not listening. You are comfortably off with your gold plated APS pension and good luck to you, just do not expect me to rollover and expect severely curtailed benefits while the thieving management trouser vast bonuses for screwing my future.

If they try to screw me (commercial reality I will accept) then by God I will make sure they end up with nothing either.

You might spend your energies writing to the poison dwarf rather than preaching to the unconvertible.
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Old 15th Nov 2006, 01:24
  #999 (permalink)  
 
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As it stands the offer on the table might as well be an overnight closure of a final salary scheme. Are you aware, Whoopsx3, that the company wants to cap all pensionable pay rises to 2.5% for the rest of my career, and then cap my pension at 2.5% when I finally get it?

Ask yourself what that means if inflation runs at 3% for the next 45 years. At the very least it makes a mockery of calling it a final salary scheme, as my final salary will have nothing to do with whatever pension I will get.

I assume Wx3 that you are fairly recently retired. Now ask yourself how you would feel if you were forced to work until 65 (and please don't give me the 'you can pay to take a pension earlier' - I can only if I win the lottery) in a job that leaves even me as a 30-something absolutely knackered.

Don't forget - I am possibly about to go on strike and if I get everything I am asking for I WILL STILL BE WORKING AN EXTRA 5 YEARS AND LOSING 10-15% OF MY PENSION. Surely thats not exactly an outrageous postion?

Sorry APS guys - people are livid and this will get nasty. Only dont blame us.
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Old 15th Nov 2006, 01:30
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Whoop cubed, you just don't get it.

Everyone I speak to on the FD is well aware of the risks of industrial action and the pain and strife it will bring to many, not least ourselves.

I, like many, chose to join BA rather than accept job offers, because of the retirement age, the pension and bidline. The first two of these are now under severe attack. If BA's proposals are implemented then my reasons for being in BA are largely gone. (We won't go into the subsequent attacks on bidline that would ineveitably take place). Therefore I will be looking very closely at other job opportunities with other operators including contract and LoCo work. To my mind, my new employer's viability and therefore my financial future would be greatly enhanced if BA no longer existed.

So yes, like many other posters, I will fight to the bitter end, til BA is consigned to the history books, rather than let this dwarf rape my familiy's future security.

Oh and Willy.....put a bloody tie on mate. This is British Airways, not Bogtrotter Air Charters and you may not appreciate it but we have an image we like to project.
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