MSE News: British Airways cabin crew to strike this month

dmg24

malkie76 wrote: »

It's a mere coincidence I'm sure!

I'm off to PEK tomorrow on BA. Already checked in online, BYOBP'd (I do like how it prints 'fast track' in the top right corner) but haven't packed yet.

Shall report from Galleries tomorrow before departing on holidays!

Hope you have a great trip. I have swapped New York for ... Liverpool!? Will be interesting to compare the two!

malkie76

Mind your handbag in Liverpool! (sorry, shocking of me to stereotype - you'll have a great time ) I'll be trying real crispy duck for the first time!

No Axe to Gring - you still fail to answer the clear cut question - why not accept a job with better conditions elsewhere? There's nothing illegal about the changes being imposed, so the choice is down to the individual.

BA workers are being scapegoated for problems, particularly financial ones, which were not of their own making

I completely agree with you there. BA cabin crew are some the best in the air anywhere in the world, and it's not their fault that there is a global recession. However, bottomline is that passenger numbers are down, premium cabins are have much fewer passengers and the on board crew numbers are no longer justifiable. It's not just crew taking the hit, it's across the board.

You could drop the blame on the board and CEO and sack them all. The replacement board would likely evoke changes much in line with what the current administration are doing, or possibly even more sweeping changes.

The realism is that there isn't the money in BAs system to maintain status quo - changes are needed.

You say 'proven inaccurate' but offer no such proof.

Dear me, the sort of stuff they've gone on record claiming doesn't need rebuttal - for example; 9 cabin crew turn up for work on the weekend ?????

strikers have already lost their rebate travel, and in that sense, have nothing further to lose

I'm not so sure - there's little stopping management issuing 90 days notice to anyone who doesn't turn up for work. My understanding is that strikers aren't presently being re-rostered, but I don't know for sure.


It's not a great situation for anyone involved (BA, union, crew and customers), but I'm struggling to have sympathy for the union who seem oblivious to the current global climate, nor the ruling of the high court.

jackieblack

British Airways cabin crew who took part in the Unite union's three-day strike will lose their travel perks permanently, the company has confirmed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8584720.stm

dmg24

Do these people realise how vile they look?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qtMaxEE-AI&

Chants of 'Shame on you, scabbing crew', at colleagues that presumably used to be friends.

There are ways to go about making your point - resorting to childish namecalling is not one of them.

No_axe_to_grind

My dear dmg24. I wonder if your grasp or understanding of history is poor, which may be down to your age and how it was or was not taught to you.. When one remembers the reaction of the Polish army to Solidarity protests in the 1980s, the SADF at Sharpeville in 1960 or the Civil Guard in Franco's Spain a decade earlier dispersing protesters then one may correctly be refer to these as 'vile' acts.

There is nothing wrong with the right to protest: Magna Carta, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the Council of Europe's European Convention on Human Rights in 1953 (nothing to do with the EU, I hasten to add) all contribute to giving you and me the right to gather and protest. As long as we do not injure anybody, or resort to violence, I can see nothing wrong with this. On the contrary, it is actually healthy in a democracy.

You obviously take exception to the word 'scab'; in my day they were referred to as 'blacklegs', both of which are found in the OED. I note you make no criticism of the strikebreakers themselves.

spurs_nut

No_axe_to_grind wrote: »

My dear dmg24. I wonder if your grasp or understanding of history is poor, which may be down to your age and how it was or was not taught to you.. When one remembers the reaction of the Polish army to Solidarity protests in the 1980s, the SADF at Sharpeville in 1960 or the Civil Guard in Franco's Spain a decade earlier dispersing protesters then one may correctly be refer to these as 'vile' acts.

There is nothing wrong with the right to protest: Magna Carta, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the Council of Europe's European Convention on Human Rights in 1953 (nothing to do with the EU, I hasten to add) all contribute to giving you and me the right to gather and protest. As long as we do not injure anybody, or resort to violence, I can see nothing wrong with this. On the contrary, it is actually healthy in a democracy.

You obviously take exception to the word 'scab'; in my day they were referred to as 'blacklegs', both of which are found in the OED. I note you make no criticism of the strikebreakers themselves.

Please come clean! your a Bassa militant are you not?

spurs_nut

The best of..... "Bassa sound bites" from the last few days

unite wrote: »

Secure access for current crew on new aircraft types to ensure we are not left to simply wither on the vine… on an ageing fleet of old, broken, ill maintained aircraft. If British Airways wants to allocate all new A/C on a commercial cost basis, we all know exactly where that will be….New Fleet.

only to be followed up with this

unite wrote: »

In the lead up to industrial action taking place a number of communications were circulated by Unite Cabin Crew Reps and BA management. These were attempts by both parties to state the positions they had adopted and explain the reasons why. Unfortunately one of the documents released by Unite made reference to existing Cabin Crew employees being left to operate"ageing and ill maintained aircraft" These comments were inconsiderate towards Unite Engineering members and at best misplaced. We personally have taken this up with your Cabin Crew colleagues and we understand that your Engineering Convenor Ian Kemp has invited Cabin Crew Reps to a future Unite Engineering Group meeting to discuss the detail of the document with Unite colleagues.
On a personal basis we want to assure you that the high standard of skill and quality our engineering members constantly exerise while contributing to the success of BA Engineering is something that this Union is proud of and we know you are. There was certainly no deliberate attempt to undermine your achievements in anyway. We do understand that it may have seemed like that, if so please accept our apologies.
This aside we have noted that in some E Mailed letters of complaint individuals have taken it upon themselves to include Senior BA Management in their list of recipients. We would ask you to refrain from this practice particularly at this difficult period as this may be used in a divisive and disingenuous manner. We also understand that some disenfranchised Unite members are actively encouraging membership of one of our affiliated sister trade unions, Prospect.While we have every respect for the work Prospect undertakes in a number of industries it has no collective bargaining rights within BA. We have spoken to our good colleagues on this matter who have given us assurances that this practice will stop forthwith. In fact the general secretary of Prospect has only last week sent a strong letter of solidarity to Unite wishing thec union success in resolving the current dispute.
We know that the unite national and regional officers have a very good relationship with our Senior Workplace Reps at BA engineering. A number of your reps are delegates to the new Regional and National industrial Senior Sector Committes with regular workplace visits taking place. We fully acknowledge the positive contribution Unite workplace Reps made during the recent negotiations to develop a single working agreement and consider our Aviation Engineering membership throughout the UK to be an integral part of the new Unite CAT structures. Please do not allow anyone to convince you otherwise. If there are occasions when you and your colleagues take issue with Unite we want you to discuss and resolve matters with your reps and full time officers.

This one was a classic, the last part of a rallying call to all members

unite wrote: »

COME TO BEDFONT, WE NEED YOU! OUR STRIKE IS WORKING BUT ONLY IF YOU ARE NOT PART OF IT.

This also

unite wrote: »

After eagle eyed crew revealed the truth about mounting cancellations by simply monitoring BA.com. They are now attempting to conceal cancellations and empty departures by removing the F for “Freighter” prefix to the flight number and instead have added a one so the BA039 becomes the BA1039 in the departures. To the untrained eye it looks as though many more flights are departing. They are not, these are empty positioning aircraft because they have no crew. It’s concealment on a substantial scale, to try and win the PR battle, simply take a look for your self before they disguise it another way and you should be able to see this quite easily

Actually the BA1039 is a 777 that departs LHR every Tuesday for Beijing. The reason for the '1' in front is nothing to do with BASSA paranoia. The return flight, BA1038 departs PEK at 2320Z, about four hours earlier than the normal BA038, which departs at 0315Z. The '1' is placed in front of the flight to distinguish is from the BA038 which also departs on GMT Tuesday.

And again

unite wrote: »

"In a recent vote of no confidence in Willie by the board, 6 board members voted no confidence, however 7 voted against. Spread the word."

Despite there only being 10 members of the BA Board

Even more

unite wrote: »

The union has this morning claimed that more than 140 BA aircraft were standing idle at Heathrow, but this figure was disputed by a Sky News source which said it was closer to 36. Also there was at least 20+ aircraft parked at shannon.

You couldn't even make it up could you?

Meanwhile, somewhere in South Wales

unite wrote: »

Pilots working as cabin crew during the current strike are pocketing an extraordinary £166 per hour - making them the world's most expensive cabin crew, Unite said today.
The union says that BA has gone to enormous lengths to divert hundreds of pilots from their everyday jobs to work as crew - but with the guarantee that they will still be paid in line with their £120,000 salaries.
In contrast, in a normal working day a BA cabin crew member with five year's experience would earn only £15,000 or £16 per hour.

£16 an hour??? No wonder they're all on strike :cool:

So where now no axe to grinde? :rotfl:

No_axe_to_grind

spurs_nut wrote: »

Please come clean! your a Bassa militant are you not?

Old nut, I suspect there are very few historians in a cabin crew union! I found that when I was actively writing the National Union of Journalists suited me better and when I lectured I paid my subscriptions to the AUT, which may be a tad before your time. Other than that I was self employed.

One should never make assumptions, as it could ultimately make one look rather foolish.

My experience as a trades union member does give me some degree of knowledge into the raison d'être of such organisations. I would hazard a guess that those who shout loudest have little or no such experience.


NB ('your' = belonging to you
'you're' is a contracted form of 'you are')

No_axe_to_grind

I shall retire gracefully from this debate, as personal insults (now removed) tend to devalue both its quality and its perpetrator.

Edit: Thank you to the moderators and to those who have engaged with me in positive (and literate) debate on this forum. Goodbye for now.

spurs_nut

No_axe_to_grind wrote: »

I shall retire gracefully from this debate, as personal insults tend to devalue both its quality and its perpetrator.

I shall leave you to withdraw the remark of your own volition, or perhaps the moderators of the forum may see fit to intervene.

And there was me thinking you are a champion of democracy and freedom of speech?

Or is it only when to suit your needs?

No_axe_to_grind wrote: »

. As long as we do not injure anybody, or resort to violence, I can see nothing wrong with this. On the contrary, it is actually healthy in a democracy.

You obviously take exception to the word 'scab'; in my day they were referred to as 'blacklegs', both of which are found in the OED. I note you make no criticism of the strikebreakers themselves.

So Sir, May I ask you this?

Is it not such a democratic right that if someone does not want to strike they should feel free from intimidation, fear, harassment and bullying from BASSA/Unite militants when crossing the picket line, because this is something they are clearly guilty of doing.

Tell me dear sir, do you condone this sort of behavior?

No_axe_to_grind wrote: »

I do expect participation in the strike to continue: strikers have already lost their rebate travel, and in that sense, have nothing further to lose, other than their salaries for the days on strike.

I disagree, carry on striking and BA can legally sack strikers after 12 weeks as long as they can prove that they have tried to act reasonably and tried to negotiate.

WW has put the offer back on the table. The offer that Unite begged him to put back on the table after strike dates were called. Here's Unites chance to save some face and their jobs.

Ballot it to your members!