Are the Turkeys about to vote for Xmas ?

Spartacus_Mills

JasonLVC wrote: »

To strike at Christmas Time - or Easter or bank Holiday or School Holidays (which is the usual Union tactics if we comapre with previous year strike) is suicidal for the airline.

This is the only time the airline will have every seat filled with fee paying passengers, passengers who'll pay top price for tickets which'll go onto the bottom line of the business.

This is nothing but a deliberate and selfish blackmail against the business and its passengers and maybe the Uk can do without a part-Spanish owned national carrier after all.

Still, like the posties, it is more about petty gesturing and "look what I can do if you don't play nice with me' politics. No doubt the strike will be cancelled soon enough but the damage, like the posties before them, will have already been done with customers booking with another airline.

At least Billy Hayes and the Posties had the decency to put further action on hold until after the Xmas break. They also have the advantage of having relatively high public support and affection. BA workers have squandered any support with a series of high profile strikes over the years that hurt people at the wrong time of year. Decent working people about to go off for their week in the sun. The BA workers are no friends of the working man.

purch

This must be the most stupid, ill advised strike action ever

I don't think anyone could argue with that.

They've made the call, so now they must deal with the consequences.

blueboy43

In all this anti union ranting it seems forgotton that of the total cabin crew, 72% voted to strike, 8% voted not too and 20% abstained.

Thats an astonishing turn out and vote in favour.

The poker equivalent of going "all in".

Lets see what Willie Walsh does now,

Snooze

Globespan been gone a few days now, but guess what? Another airline has just collapsed leaving thousands stranded over Christmas : Spanish airline Air Comet. Their fleet was over twice the size of Globespan's too.

The majority of their route network was to South America in their latter days, but they were regulars to the Caribbean, US and throughout Europe beforehand.

Green shoots?

R

wigglebeena

ruggedtoast wrote: »

I fear the worst for BA. The airline industry is in dire straits anyway but BA is a stricken giant. It seems like the titanic going under, the crew frantically hurling deck chairs into the sea to try and reduce weight.

Normally in Europe the government would step in and shore up a national carrier, but unless BA start a sideline offering 125% mortgages to the unemployed, Brown is not going to be interested.

I imagine a foreign takeover is on the way - with the non performing parts underwritten by the British taxpayer of course. Thats about Labours style.

Isn't that every British government's style: sell off the family jewels to your pals at a knock-down price with sweeteners, guaranteeing yourself a lush directorship when you quit the house? Didn't the Tories do something similar with the trains?

(Not defending Labour here: God for-****ing-bid at this point. Will never vote for the ****ers again.)

Old_Slaphead

wigglebeena wrote: »

Isn't that every British government's style: sell off the family jewels to your pals at a knock-down price with sweeteners, guaranteeing yourself a lush directorship when you quit the house? Didn't the Tories do something similar with the trains?

Presumably, by your definition, BA was given away at a knockdown price - clearly that's not been the case as shareholders have been lumbered with the poisoned pill of guaranteed pensions and out-of-date working practices.

Maybe, with hindsight, Margaret Thatcher wasn't so profligate with selloffs as first thought and has protected taxpayers from even more public sector spending largess.

Old_Slaphead

Wookster wrote: »

What will the workers do? Go to Ryan Air?

Now that would be worth travelling on RyanAir for - seeing the snooty ex BA cabin crew dishing out toilet paper at 50p a sheet!