Any news, chaps?

It's going to be a long play. Don't expect big news from BALPA for a while.

However, there may still be an interesting summer ahead for the cabin crew..... :uhoh:

Agreed - cabin crew morale is rock bottom and sinking fast - with the new unworkable sickness policy, the pension position, already ludicrous handbaggage limits set to rise by 400% next month,inexcusable delays caused by overzealous 'efficiencies' - which in the end cost more - and the ever present threat of yet more new (unworkable) working practices etc . . I don't think BA fully realise how close the crew are going to get soon too.

Everything falls on deaf ears, yet more propoganda is churned out, and a current situation involving a crew that allegedly were way out of hours being disciplined is fast making the crews realisation of how much they are truly valued, plummet......

Nobody wants a summer of discontent - but BA certainly like to push their luck causing untold stress and uncertainty among its crew and customers.
Will they EVER learn . . . . . . . . .

..except they weren't out of hours, not by any measure. Even BASSA aren't claiming that.

It would appear from BALPA that BA have just broken an Industrial Agreement over a leave week.

BTSM

This is the company 'asking for a favour' from the pilots.

Measured against the background of the pension issue, it will be interesting to see what happens.

BALPA officials are now expressing privately that the 'threat' of a strike means nothing to Willie Walsh.

Interpret that as you wish....but I'm putting money in my piggy bank and downgrading my car for the short term...

Well I know where my extra week's pay is going and it is no longer on the LCD widescreen tv.

BTSM - didn't you use your HCI money to buy a new telly like everybody else?;)

I'll be sticking as much money as I can aside for a couple of months.

This one is going to go to the wire....

May be WW can pull a rabbit out of the hat like the Royal Mail has just done, every £1 Gordon B puts in, he gets £5 out later.
.
Simple fact is, the more money Joe public puts into looking after his/her pension, the more Gordon will take it away, I wish it was a joke, but its not.!!!

BA 'could sell Air Miles to fund £1.8bn pensions shortfall'
 

BA 'could sell Air Miles to fund £1.8bn pensions shortfall'
The Independent By Philip Thornton Published: 24 July 2006

British Airways is mulling the sale of its Air Miles customer loyalty scheme to help fill a pensions deficit that could be twice as big as first thought, according to reports at the weekend.

The shortfall in its retirement fund has almost doubled to nearly £1.8bn, according to new valuation being carried out by actuaries, one said. It is understood that Watson Wyatt have revised an initial estimate of £928m to just under £1.8bn in a move that could force the airline to inject more cash into the fund.

The article continues with another three paragraphs

You have to question what is going on when the actuaries initial estimate is half what the final figure is. Don't know much about this business but that seems an excessive difference.

Better to flog airmiles, than flog the rest of the company to death.

Ex-actuary speaking. Shortfalls in insurance and pension funds are the difference between two extremely large numbers:

the value of the fund - this is known pretty accurately, although some items (such as commercial property) may be estimated. Stock prices can, of course, change rapidly, particularly where hedge funds are involved.

the present value of the future liabilities - this is calculated with great precision, but based on estimates of such things as interest rates in 20 years time. What appears to be a very small change in these underlying assumptions (e.g. 0.25% in the interest rate) can make a big difference to the final answer. When you subtract that answer from the fund value (which, in an ideal world, should be at least approximately equal to value of the liabilities), you can get what appear to be (and, in fact, are) huge swings.

Hope this helps

PV

(Hence the joke about the actuary who was asked "what is two times two". Answer - it all depends, what would you like it to be?)

Thanks for the explanation PV. Yes it does help. :)

To follow on from Pax Vobiscum's knowledgeable posting:

The £1.8bn figure was probably from a BA press office deliberate 'leak' which the papers appear to have swallowed wholesale.

The value of the assets in the fund has just been published at £5846m. The liabilities are of course not known, but working forward from earlier figures, it is quite possible that the fund is now actually in surplus.

BA are masterminding a gigantic con trick on their long-serving employees in order to feather the nests of a few management fly-by-nights.

Good point overstress. The bigger the lie, the easier it is to get away with.

Ask an Enron executive... mind you, they got found out eventually... :hmm:

You are living on cloud cuckoo land matey.

Yes, it may have shrunk, but have you not noticed how the markets have moved? They are not magic!

I can assure you I'm not, matey. (If you object to the patronising term 'matey' then edit your post above and I'll edit mine. Forgive me for my testiness but my future is at stake - maybe not yours?

Cleverer people than (you? &) I are looking into this as we speak. Do you understand that we are dealing with projections?

From an ex-actuary above

BTW, you're not related to the Prince of Darkness, are you? Or perhaps BA management?

So can we have a poll as to how many people think that the £1.8bn deficit is genuine?:E

The actuaries will come up with whatever answer their employers tell them to come up with.