Why do we hate Unions? Look at BA...

donaldtramp

the real culprit lies in a flawed business model

Yup your absoluely correct. And now when BA is trying to address the matter and keep these people their jobs. The leftie militant Unite is trying to "protect" them all the way to the dole queue. They are an absolute disgrace.

bendix

aardvaak wrote: »

I don't agree with the strike - However I can never understand why people have to make the mad dash out of the country at Christmas - whats wrong with having Christmas here - I am - I thought everyone was supposed to be hard up at present!

Congratulations aardvaak. That's probably the most pointlessly irrelevant and stupid thread on MSE for months. Quite an achievement that, given your competition.

Has it never occurred to you that some people are LEAVING the UK to go home to other countries?

Similarly, some people travel for business.

ILW

torontoboy45 wrote: »

well said.

and isn't it pathetic when people, like the OP and others, rush to blame the TU/staff before stopping to take a look at the wider picture and question the co.'s leadership.

BA's performance has been under scrutiny for yrs (the joke redesign of tail-fins, the gate gourmet/handlers fiasco,check-in staff walking out en masse, declaring 'the job's no longer worth it', the non-argument about an employee's right to wear a crucifix pendant and - the crowning turd in the fresh water supply - the t5 disaster) so it's a bit rich to point the finger at front-line staff for the co.'s woes when the real culprit lies in a flawed business model.

bad enough for those travelling but I'm sure most won't fall for the daily mail-type rants I keep reading here.

Typical stupid union type argument.
It's irrelevent whos fault it all is.
If a company is not making a profit, at some point the money runs out and there is nothing to pay the wages. The cash does not magically just appear.
At that point the company goes bust, all lose their jobs and the suppliers and other creditors do not get paid.
I know it is very difficult for some people (mainly bought up in the public sector) to understand thatl but it is very basic economics.
If the employees think the management is really that awful, vote with your feet and go and work for someone else where they are better.

The_White_Horse

torontoboy45 wrote: »

well said.

and isn't it pathetic when people, like the OP and others, rush to blame the TU/staff before stopping to take a look at the wider picture and question the co.'s leadership.

BA's performance has been under scrutiny for yrs (the joke redesign of tail-fins, the gate gourmet/handlers fiasco,check-in staff walking out en masse, declaring 'the job's no longer worth it', the non-argument about an employee's right to wear a crucifix pendant and - the crowning turd in the fresh water supply - the t5 disaster) so it's a bit rich to point the finger at front-line staff for the co.'s woes when the real culprit lies in a flawed business model.

bad enough for those travelling but I'm sure most won't fall for the daily mail-type rants I keep reading here.

BA may not be as well run as it could be - mainly a hang over from its nationalised days. however, a company that is losing 1.6m a day cannot pay more (especially when the cabin crew are already overpaid by almost 100%).

SACK THEM ALL NOW.

I'd like Willie to come out and say "Sorry, we are losing 700m a year, we will not be held to ransom. You turn up for work on Dec 22 or you are ALL sacked. If one person strikes, he or she will cost every worker their job.

These people are money grabbing scum. unite - what a joke.

Harry_Powell

Graham_Devon wrote: »

In any other career...
- Being responsible for the health and safety of 100's of people
- Being the person responsible for saving lives
[STRIKE]- Filling in flight reports, customs forms, health reports[/STRIKE]
- filling in fire response/review forms.
- Not being able to get home on your day off
[STRIKE]- Spending the majority of holidays on your own in a foreign country unable to be with family[/STRIKE]
- Spending majority of holidays at the fire station on standby, or out fighting fires.
- Sometimes extreme hours
....would have you on a hell of a lot more than 35k.

Like firemen, for instance? Average wage starting at £20k and rising to £30k?

Harry_Powell

nearlynew wrote: »

That's a rather cr4p analogy if you don't mind me saying.


Owners of the means of production don't go on strike for starters.

It's a crap analogy because we wouldn't starve, we would go to a rival set of farmers and buy our food from them instead. Once the strike was over, some would return to the striking farmers and some would stay with the new farmers - usually the ones most affected would stay and often these will be the ones who buy the most produce. Eventually the striking farmers would lose market share and end up worse off than before the strike.

michaels

Yes it is unfortunate that part of the problem at BA is as the result of the management misreading the market, ill-conceived oil price hedging rtc but arguing over 'who's fault is it we are in this hole' rather than looking at how to get out of it seems a little short-sighted.

The steel workers at Corus who have lost their jobs bent over backwards to be flexible, it wasn't their fault, but they are still unemployed at the end of the day. Which is better - bend over, take it up the ...but still be employed or be looking for work in the middle of a recession. I am sure the union have said that there is no way that the govt would let BA go bankrupt but the EU make any bailout very difficult - look what happened to Alitalia - any BA staff think they would be better off after a shotgun merger with Ryanair!

Treadmill

I fully support the strikers at BA, the management are the ones that want sacking, they are useless.

The_White_Horse

Treadmill wrote: »

I fully support the strikers at BA, the management are the ones that want sacking, they are useless.

just out of interest, as BA are losing 700m a year, where do you think the money is coming from to pay cabin crew more? Or keep the same number of cabin crew?

lostinrates

At the last time I heard anything things like pensions still ahd not been resolved ....had that been before this point?

My feeling is BA ''wage'' is a hangoever from a time where there was a bit of kudos in being a flight atendant. Often the flight attendants had skill in at least one other language and were intelligent go getting women: it is worth remembering BA was a dream job for a eoman who might now see more realistic future in being a doctor or business woman...being a stewardess on BA was a reasonably big deal.....


...times have changed, we want cheap flights and the world is smaller. we are ''more sophisticated travellers'' meaning conversely flying is less exclusive and a big deal. we no longer expect the stewardess to be the image of the perfect society wife...we're happy to receive less attentive service to save some money.

I haven't flown BA for a long time, though I do rememeber it as a service superior to easy jet.

Points to note:
-someone here I think, once pointed to the fact it is more environmentally friendly, to fly Business class than economy class: perhaps thats a point for the future of ''better'' airlines?

- I have felt thoughout the obvious concern that it was scandalous that during so much cost cutting ex pilots, etc, and board members have retained their perks.....things that would seem pretty reasonable to go without under such circumstances.

-I feel sorry for the guy with the Swiss wife. I'd offer to drive them over, but doubt they'd be comfortable in the truck. There other other ways to return, an those within Europe need not panic so much. The major concern, sadly-putting emotion to one side -has to be business. We need to remain steadfast and attendantfor business: if its thought there are more hurdles in doing business with UK that can be taken elsewhere its a bad thing.

Edit: crikey...is it me or am I getting harder to understand again? I might go back and edit later, sort out some of the spelling for Pastures, and try and make decent sentences..:(..