IAG: BA restructuring may cost 12,000 jobs
I Have Control
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Apology to MP
Belated apology to Maximum Pete. You were indeed too subtle for me and my dim brain.
From chatting to a pal today, it seems that certain pension-rich 60+-year olds are happily operating long haul flights for BA with no view to retiring now and helping out others. Very sad. Selfish people. There were some at bmi too, evidently not yourself.
From chatting to a pal today, it seems that certain pension-rich 60+-year olds are happily operating long haul flights for BA with no view to retiring now and helping out others. Very sad. Selfish people. There were some at bmi too, evidently not yourself.
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Have to say I agree
Cast your minds back to post 9/11 and then 2008 - BA claim the end of the aviation world is nigh, take pay cuts and decimate T&Cs to 'save the company' - you know what happened thereafter. The 'best' became just another airline on 900hrs per annum, the most coveted roster system trashed, pension scheme destroyed - all in the name of 'saving the company'. The problem for management is, they have pared you to the bone (with your full and naive support) that there's little left to cut.
But what worries me most is the people that are representing us. I have seen nothing but naivety and a lack of understanding of what has gone on previously. BALPA HQ, under this GS is a joke too. The lack of talent at party HQ is apparent even from a distance, and BA will have seen that for themselves.
Especially last September when we showed, without doubt, that we are a toothless (as well as incompetent) tiger. This is IAGs prayers all being answered in one, the virus may be novel but their SOP isn’t!
I fear this will be BALPAs biggest cock up of all, it will make previous blunders look almost palatable. We are royalty screwed, people.
IAG will pair back terms so as to compete with airlines in the upturn. The same airlines that have taken billions in subsidies and loans. No wonder they won’t even be offering Mixed Fleet terms and conditions, we will be a whisker away from slave wages. The gig economy in an airline, I dare say we will be the equivalent of Deliveroo drivers when this is over.
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Anyone who thinks their iteration of a BALPA CC was better than the current generation is stuck in a place between grandiosity and nostalgia. Please remind yourselves of the general trend in society, economics and taxation. All things go from good, to bad to downright ugly. And in aviation this trend is in the making for 30 years now. Fighting the established powers as pilots becomes harder over time and more leeway is lost due to the simple fact that we have to constantly realign with the rest of society. It's expected.
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Belated apology to Maximum Pete. You were indeed too subtle for me and my dim brain.
From chatting to a pal today, it seems that certain pension-rich 60+-year olds are happily operating long haul flights for BA with no view to retiring now and helping out others. Very sad. Selfish people. There were some at bmi too, evidently not yourself.
From chatting to a pal today, it seems that certain pension-rich 60+-year olds are happily operating long haul flights for BA with no view to retiring now and helping out others. Very sad. Selfish people. There were some at bmi too, evidently not yourself.
I have a family to support, kids in uni, elderly parents and only a few years left to work before that is it for 20+ years of retirement. Many of you meanwhile have years of employment ahead of you and if the airlines don't bounce back you can do something else.
I still enjoy my job. I'm living this life for me and mine, not for you and yours. I owe you nothing. Good luck to all; I ain't going nowheres voluntarily. Nothing sad in it at all.
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Anyone who thinks their iteration of a BALPA CC was better than the current generation is stuck in a place between grandiosity and nostalgia. Please remind yourselves of the general trend in society, economics and taxation. All things go from good, to bad to downright ugly. And in aviation this trend is in the making for 30 years now. Fighting the established powers as pilots becomes harder over time and more leeway is lost due to the simple fact that we have to constantly realign with the rest of society. It's expected.
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Many of you meanwhile have years of employment ahead of you and if the airlines don't bounce back you can do something else.
You’ve every right to keep working for as long as you feel you need to, but please don’t come out with such claptrap. And don’t pull someone up on their lack of empathy/understanding for your situation and then display a complete lack of understanding/empathy for everyone beneath you on the list with the hideous phrase you’ve used above.
1. BA haven't started swinging the axe yet . I fail to see how a 60+ year old failing to retire "now" and instead operating a flight today/this week, or even in the next few weeks is being "selfish"? It may be different in a month or two so perhaps we will end revisiting this if BA start asking for VR.
2. There's also the old Chairman Mao saying about walking a mile in a man (or woman's) shoes, as witnessed by Fly747's post.
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I had always planned on jacking it in at 60. Life changed drastically a few years ago and it'll have to be 65 now. If I could go at 60 I would. But it won't be happening.
There is also the inconvenient gap of two years between compulsory retirement at 65 and getting my state pension at 67.
Back to the topic. Good luck to all at BA and their appointed reps tasked with sorting this out as fairly as possible.
There is also the inconvenient gap of two years between compulsory retirement at 65 and getting my state pension at 67.
Back to the topic. Good luck to all at BA and their appointed reps tasked with sorting this out as fairly as possible.
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I was saying that the, given restrictions that are bound to last for the next 10 to 20 years Boeing and Airbus will have to sell brand new short haul aircraft for no more than $5m a piece and remuneration that would see captain earn £35k per year and first officers, £15k a year.
It's over.
Best wishes
It's over.
Best wishes
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In a different airline across the channel pilots that want to continue after 60 have to go part-time due to agreement with the union. This could be a cost efficient solution as the most expensive pilots will work less and most of the juniors get to keep their jobs. Imo this should be accomplished voluntarily. Good luck to all involved!
In a different airline across the channel pilots that want to continue after 60 have to go part-time due to agreement with the union. This could be a cost efficient solution as the most expensive pilots will work less and most of the juniors get to keep their jobs. Imo this should be accomplished voluntarily. Good luck to all involved!
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Could you explain how this is cost efficient? Surely its double everything for the part time pilots? Lpc / opc training is doubled etc etc
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BALPA will be spread thin on the ground, but initial "suggestions" are that BA will opt to pay the minimum statutory requirements according to the T+Cs i.e UK Mins plus statutory notice pay. Approx 25% of the pilots may be culled due to over volume and the restructuring and no option for internal job transfers. Interesting some pilots may be made redundant due to proposed "efficiency" improvements.. Now,,does that mean they are "inefficient now" or that they were never needed or that their colleagues will work so hard they will not be needed, or that the route changes and rotations will basically mean they are surplus? It appears to be a "consulted" assault on Terms and Conditions with performance goals implied. Of course one feels very sorry for the colleagues involved in this process, friends and families will be effected and BA is only trying to "survive" for the future. perhaps more Cargo ops on the cards as per Virgin. One wonders if part of the BA reaction is due to the IATA forecasts and generally the sector talking down the recovery. As it is predicted NAS will cease LH ops from UK there may be some slack there, but again the question "who wants to travel in these times" . Companies like BA burn funds at eye watering rates and even a public offering would only stick a plaster on the wound. Lets hope the selection process is fair, although any restructuring models based around capacity will ultimately effect fleet types and not service with the company.
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Firstly, genuinely sorry to hear about what those of you at BA are going through. I'm not a pilot but I'm employed elsewhere in the industry.
My question is, what can BALPA do? I'd imagine IA wouldn't have any effect at the moment due to the lack of flights to disrupt and media attention being focused elsewhere. So is it just a case of negotiating and hoping to mitigate some of the worst-case options slightly? Or will they be able to find leverage through other means? Hopefully dragging out negotiations for as long as possible may allow for some economic recovery and weaken BA's case for making some of these highly opportunistic changes.
Either way wishing you all the best outcome possible under the circumstances.
My question is, what can BALPA do? I'd imagine IA wouldn't have any effect at the moment due to the lack of flights to disrupt and media attention being focused elsewhere. So is it just a case of negotiating and hoping to mitigate some of the worst-case options slightly? Or will they be able to find leverage through other means? Hopefully dragging out negotiations for as long as possible may allow for some economic recovery and weaken BA's case for making some of these highly opportunistic changes.
Either way wishing you all the best outcome possible under the circumstances.
Last edited by The Nutts Mutts; 30th Apr 2020 at 09:34.
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If they were only trying to survive for the future, it would be only too obvious that the measures they had suggested were temporary (by temporary i mean up to a few years), and were't detrimental to current agreements, rather simply a reduction in available work with an associated reduction in pay. That letter posted above reads entirely differently: it is an unprecedented (and wholly unnecessary) land grab, because they view that they will get away with it. They are seemingly using a time where people are at their most vulnerable to stick the knife further in.
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There is a VERY important theme in these Posts:
How can someone be labeled as 'pension rich'? Has anyone looked into what has been happening to pension funds so far this year? I think that a lot of people's pension planning is being rather shaken up at the moment.
I have been at the end of "you younger guys have lots of time ahead of you to build up a pension somewhere else" comment when turfed out due to redundancy (those exact words ere used to me personally) so I can understand that end of the problem. I am now older and I can understand Fly747's and Rt Hon Jim Hacker MP's situations. Probably the most important point is Rt Hon Jim Hacker MP's "...the inconvenient gap of two years between compulsory retirement at 65 and getting my state pension at 67." That is not only a problem that older pilots will be facing shortly but with the way the industry appears to be going as a whole, those in their 20s now could well be banging their heads against exactly that problem, or an even bigger gap, in future years.
I have been VERY fortunate to have continued flying 'as normal' (although nothing is normal now!). Taxiing past rows of aeroplanes parked and sealed up at almost every airport in several countries and walking through empty terminals with everything closed and almost no lights on, some even becoming dusty after having been thriving terminals only a short while ago, is very, very, very sobering (and weird). If you haven't been able to see it, you probably don't really want to. This problem is much, much bigger than any one of your airlines, no matter how big they are. Best not to become lonely individualists bickering about what someone else might or might not be doing. A lot of pilots are going to be in very 'fragile' situations. Trying to understand each other and if possible support each other would be the most helpful way ahead.
Belated apology to Maximum Pete. You were indeed too subtle for me and my dim brain.
From chatting to a pal today, it seems that certain pension-rich 60+-year olds are happily operating long haul flights for BA with no view to retiring now and helping out others. Very sad. Selfish people. There were some at bmi too, evidently not yourself.
From chatting to a pal today, it seems that certain pension-rich 60+-year olds are happily operating long haul flights for BA with no view to retiring now and helping out others. Very sad. Selfish people. There were some at bmi too, evidently not yourself.
I'm sorry Huddy boy but I really have to reply to that; I'm an older pilot and not being selfish at all, certainly no more selfish than you sound.
I have a family to support, kids in uni, elderly parents and only a few years left to work before that is it for 20+ years of retirement. Many of you meanwhile have years of employment ahead of you and if the airlines don't bounce back you can do something else.
I still enjoy my job. I'm living this life for me and mine, not for you and yours. I owe you nothing. Good luck to all; I ain't going nowheres voluntarily. Nothing sad in it at all.
I have a family to support, kids in uni, elderly parents and only a few years left to work before that is it for 20+ years of retirement. Many of you meanwhile have years of employment ahead of you and if the airlines don't bounce back you can do something else.
I still enjoy my job. I'm living this life for me and mine, not for you and yours. I owe you nothing. Good luck to all; I ain't going nowheres voluntarily. Nothing sad in it at all.
I had always planned on jacking it in at 60. Life changed drastically a few years ago and it'll have to be 65 now. If I could go at 60 I would. But it won't be happening.
There is also the inconvenient gap of two years between compulsory retirement at 65 and getting my state pension at 67.
Back to the topic. Good luck to all at BA and their appointed reps tasked with sorting this out as fairly as possible.
There is also the inconvenient gap of two years between compulsory retirement at 65 and getting my state pension at 67.
Back to the topic. Good luck to all at BA and their appointed reps tasked with sorting this out as fairly as possible.
I have been at the end of "you younger guys have lots of time ahead of you to build up a pension somewhere else" comment when turfed out due to redundancy (those exact words ere used to me personally) so I can understand that end of the problem. I am now older and I can understand Fly747's and Rt Hon Jim Hacker MP's situations. Probably the most important point is Rt Hon Jim Hacker MP's "...the inconvenient gap of two years between compulsory retirement at 65 and getting my state pension at 67." That is not only a problem that older pilots will be facing shortly but with the way the industry appears to be going as a whole, those in their 20s now could well be banging their heads against exactly that problem, or an even bigger gap, in future years.
I have been VERY fortunate to have continued flying 'as normal' (although nothing is normal now!). Taxiing past rows of aeroplanes parked and sealed up at almost every airport in several countries and walking through empty terminals with everything closed and almost no lights on, some even becoming dusty after having been thriving terminals only a short while ago, is very, very, very sobering (and weird). If you haven't been able to see it, you probably don't really want to. This problem is much, much bigger than any one of your airlines, no matter how big they are. Best not to become lonely individualists bickering about what someone else might or might not be doing. A lot of pilots are going to be in very 'fragile' situations. Trying to understand each other and if possible support each other would be the most helpful way ahead.