BA - Turkeys voting for Christmas!

richardw

kegg wrote: »

Sack the bloody lot of them and employ someone who is not so greedy. The earn twice as much as the virgin staff doing the exact same job which in reality is little more than being a waitress/waiter.
The need a reality check.

Can a waiter do CPR?

edinburgher

Can a waiter do CPR?

If they take a one day training course they can! I know, I did it

worldtraveller

alanrowell wrote: »

As for the strike - if over 90% of people vote for a strike that does suggest they are pretty miffed about something and that the blame for the situation doesn't just lie with the union especially when said union have offered to take 10% pay cuts

To me it indicates that a whole swathe of people working for BA are still living on another planet and not in the real world. Like many organisations that are still unionised and providing a service to the public, they are largely trying to hold on to outdated, dinosaur practices that are no longer financially viable today. This mainly, by using bully boy tactics, through their unions, against their customers. It is also largely the employees that still have a final salary pension scheme that are going on strike. These pension schemes have been ended by many organisations, including BA for new recruits. The employees with final salary pensions will also be largely unaffected by the changes, since these will fall on new recruits. The union says that changes in employment contracts for new staff will lead to jealousy between people on the old schemes and the new one. Well, if you don't like it, like anyone else in society, go and find a job elsewhere and let someone else take it! I'm sure that there are plenty of people out there that would like it at half the salary & benefits!

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen....sorry, galley! :whistle:

alanrowell

edinburgher wrote: »

you'll notice that I never once quoted the £14k Virgin figure

Scary isn't it - your life could depend on someone paid not much more than a burger-flipper at McDonalds

alanrowell

worldtraveller wrote: »

To me it indicates that a whole swathe of people working for BA are still living on another planet and not in the real world. Like many organisations that are still unionised and providing a service to the public, they are largely trying to hold on to outdated, dinosaur practices that are no longer financially viable today. This mainly, by using bully boy tactics, through their unions, against their customers. It is also largely the employees that still have a final salary pension scheme that are going on strike. These pension schemes have been ended by many organisations, including BA for new recruits. The employees with final salary pensions will also be largely unaffected by the changes, since these will fall on new recruits. The union says that changes in employment contracts for new staff will lead to jealousy between people on the old schemes and the new one. Well, if you don't like it, like anyone else in society, go and find a job elsewhere and let someone else take it! I'm sure that there are plenty of people out there that would like it at half the salary & benefits!

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen....sorry, galley! :whistle:

Or that the staff are really upset with macho management - especially considering that BA's recent record on management decisions can only be described as disastrous. Remember the union offered a 10% pay cut which was a lot more generous than the 2.5% and shares offered to the pilots

malkie76

There's a rumour doing the rounds that it's all a deliberate tactic to "bankrupt" the company, only for it to reopen the next day as a new entity.

This gives them the ability to terminate all contracts and offer new ones to anyone who wants a job, but more importantly to 'write-off' the entire pension deficit.

BA would return immediately under a slightly different name doing exactly what it was doing previously but now in a cost efficient way.

Thats more or less exactly what Swissair did when it became SWISS and they're doing pretty well now.

I've no idea about the ins and outs of this rumour, nor even if it's technically feasible.

GH

edinburgher wrote: »

If you bother to read the thread before being deciding to be a smartass, you'll notice that I never once quoted the £14k Virgin figure, or said that I believed it. I simply pointed out that it was likely that folk were mentioning it because it was being widely quoted in the newspapers.

At the end of the day my Christmas may be ruined as well as the holidays of thousands of others - go troll somewhere else if you can't show a little sympathy

If you want sympathy you'll find it in the dictionary , it's between s**t and syphilis.

mystic_trev

malkie76 wrote: »

There's a rumour doing the rounds that it's all a deliberate tactic to "bankrupt" the company, only for it to reopen the next day as a new entity.

This gives them the ability to terminate all contracts and offer new ones to anyone who wants a job, but more importantly to 'write-off' the entire pension deficit.

BA would return immediately under a slightly different name doing exactly what it was doing previously but now in a cost efficient way.

Thats more or less exactly what Swissair did when it became SWISS and they're doing pretty well now.

I've no idea about the ins and outs of this rumour, nor even if it's technically feasible.

I've wondered about this myself. If they go Bankrupt though the maximum under the Pension protection scheme is as follows.

This compensation is subject to an overall annual cap, which, as at April 2009, equates to £28,742.69 at age 65 after the 90% has been applied. (the cap will be adjusted according to the age at which compensation comes into payment

If you were a Pilot about to retire, you'd certainly be in for a shock. It wouldn't effect the Cabin crews as much, though.

Aidenr

As crew for VS, the pay differences are true as being published.

Its just a little frustrating that Virgins pay scales have been dragged into the media.

I know that it is going to be a tough xmas for alot of travellers. With many carriers already full or bumping prices, its not going to be pretty.

I think what is important to remember is that the BA crew did NOT vote to strike at xmas but just in favour of strike action in general. It was Unite Union ( who also look after Virgin crew ) that decided the dates.

My best friend is long haul crew for BA and I know that there are loads of issues that crew are not happy with.
for example of pay grades within the same role. There are alot of crew on massive salaries for being as another poster put it " uniformed waiters". Those that have been flying for years are on higher salaries than new starters. What BA are looking at is reducing salary and introducing a new contract with lower standard of working conditions.

Regardless of role or industry, no one would take a paycut and change of contract and conditions just at the drop of the hat.
Another HUGE issue is reducing the number of crew onboard an aircraft. This would affect the level of service to passenger due to crew-passenger ratio.

At Virgin we have had some major changes that have affected passengers and more that have affected crew.
However, we are managed differently and the transistion was not so dramatic as BA face

Although many people are going to be affected by this, and I pray BA get there act together,I would hope that people look beyond the salaries of crew. The media has hooked onto that as a driving force.

If I was facing a new contract, pay cut and change to my working day and conditions - I would be miffed too and not prepared to just take it on the chin.
Unite Union have proposed £60m in cost cutting measures as per Sky News coverage, so there are alternatives

Just my pennies worth
I really do hope this gets sorted and everyone gets from A-B stress free

A

PolishBigSpender

So the crew voted in favour of the strike, only for the union leadership to make the cabin crew the bad guys by setting the dates for Christmas?

That should surely show all unionised members exactly what the Union thinks of them, surely?

Can't say I'm surprised though.