'Who do you support in the BA strike?' poll discussion

icarrynocash

bit selfish to comment on others. put yourself in their place, could you afford to lose out. Unions are the only defence left. respect them or they'l not be around when you're in the firing line then who'l fight for your rights.

maggiecon

I cant make up mind on this one cause I am hearing two different arguments here from the same side. BA staff and supporters on here are saying that they are not getting payed the figures quoted in the press and they are not earning enough.

Yet on the other hand they are saying the offered to take a pay cut.

Can you see where I am confused?

timeout100

I dont normally comment either way on these subjects, but I would like to suggest that as Cabin Crew, the person who said we should be paid as waiters, that you obviously have no clue why we are onboard your flight. If you suddenly develop chest pains, and find it hard to breathe, you are gonna press your call bell. Then a well trained in Aviation First Aider aka Cabin Crew member will come to your rescue. Not so much of a waiter anymore? We are highly trained people who do more than just serve tea & coffee - and although this situation with BA has gone completley out of control, I do understand why staff have done what they have done. Air travel is the most efficient and safest form of transport....because of dedicated, well trained professionals....and Cabin Crew form part of that team.

Jomo

timeout100 wrote: »

I dont normally comment either way on these subjects, but I would like to suggest that as Cabin Crew, the person who said we should be paid as waiters, that you obviously have no clue why we are onboard your flight. If you suddenly develop chest pains, and find it hard to breathe, you are gonna press your call bell. Then a well trained in Aviation First Aider aka Cabin Crew member will come to your rescue. Not so much of a waiter anymore? We are highly trained people who do more than just serve tea & coffee - and although this situation with BA has gone completley out of control, I do understand why staff have done what they have done. Air travel is the most efficient and safest form of transport....because of dedicated, well trained professionals....and Cabin Crew form part of that team.

Individuals in our office are qualified first aiders but don't get additional pay for this?

We are also dedicated, well trained professionals? And....we wouldn't take strike action during a recession, even though we've had pay freezes etc.

Roger_Moore_007

Jomo wrote: »

Individuals in our office are qualified first aiders but don't get additional pay for this?

We are also dedicated, well trained professionals? And....we wouldn't take strike action during a recession, even though we've had pay freezes etc.

If you work in an office and are expected to provide first-aid as part of your job or in an emergency, then you should be paid extra for this. If you just happen to be a qualified first-aider that works in an office, that's neither here nor there.

On a separate note, I work for a company trying to cut costs despite the fact that we made £17 million last year, the company were threatening redundancies and pay freezes because they were hoping to make higher profits. If the company had carried out any kind of pay freeze or job cuts there would without doubt have been a strike by 75% of our 200 employees. It doesn't matter what the economic climate is, big businesses will always try and shaft their employees if they think they can get away with it, the only thing that prevents this is by having a strong union with a high membership percentage.

Willie Walsh appears to be a laughing stock, I don't know how he has survived in his job this long, he should have gone after the T5 opening debacle. Every time he appears on TV he sounds completely out of touch and seems to be a very poor figurehead for such a large company, a small man with a small brain.

Jomo

Roger_Moore_007 wrote: »

If you work in an office and are expected to provide first-aid as part of your job or in an emergency, then you should be paid extra for this. If you just happen to be a qualified first-aider that works in an office, that's neither here nor there.

On a separate note, I work for a company trying to cut costs despite the fact that we made £17 million last year, the company were threatening redundancies and pay freezes because they were hoping to make higher profits. If the company had carried out any kind of pay freeze or job cuts there would without doubt have been a strike by 75% of our 200 employees. It doesn't matter what the economic climate is, big businesses will always try and shaft their employees if they think they can get away with it, the only thing that prevents this is by having a strong union with a high membership percentage.

Willie Walsh appears to be a laughing stock, I don't know how he has survived in his job this long, he should have gone after the T5 opening debacle. Every time he appears on TV he sounds completely out of touch and seems to be a very poor figurehead for such a large company, a small man with a small brain.

Not everyone would. I consider myself lucky to have a job right now.

Roger_Moore_007

Jomo wrote: »

Not everyone would. I consider myself lucky to have a job right now.

That's where you're wrong, we have regular chapel meetings and around 75% of staff are members of the union. All of the people in the union have voted in the past that we would strike if certain terms were imposed by our company.

I really hate when people don't join a union and then complain about being mistreated by their company at some point. These would be the same sort of people who believe everything they read in the papers and just conform to the opinion that all unions are bad.

The notion that people should consider themselves lucky to be in a job is ridiculous, if a company thought like that about their employees there would be no sense of loyalty and everyone would just be clockwatching until it was time to clock-off.

Jomo

Roger_Moore_007 wrote: »

That's where you're wrong, we have regular chapel meetings and around 75% of staff are members of the union. All of the people in the union have voted in the past that we would strike if certain terms were imposed by our company.

I really hate when people don't join a union and then complain about being mistreated by their company at some point. These would be the same sort of people who believe everything they read in the papers and just conform to the opinion that all unions are bad.

The notion that people should consider themselves lucky to be in a job is ridiculous, if a company thought like that about their employees there would be no sense of loyalty and everyone would just be clockwatching until it was time to clock-off.

Bully for you, doesn't mean everyone is or would do. Where ever I have worked I have never joined a union and anybody I have known to have never needed their services! Do I complain...well I've never had to so far, whether I should count myself lucky or not I don't think so because I have many friends who work and neither have they!

I really hate it when people join a union and strike during a recession when MANY people are in the same boat! And to top that off, causing many members of the public to have their holiday ruined! :mad:

Roger_Moore_007

Jomo wrote: »

Bully for you, doesn't mean everyone is or would do. Where ever I have worked I have never joined a union and anybody I have known to have never needed their services! Do I complain...well I've never had to so far, whether I should count myself lucky or not I don't think so because I have many friends who work and neither have they!

I really hate it when people join a union and strike during a recession when MANY people are in the same boat! And to top that off, causing many members of the public to have their holiday ruined! :mad:

You don't read the Daily Mail, Express or The Sun by any chance do you?

I do find that people tend to be jealous that I work in a company where there is a strong union that isn't prepared to be pushed around by the management.

I love your "I have many friends" who aren't part of a union comment, it's about as relevant as when somebody makes a racist comment followed by 'Some of my best friends are black'!

Who said anything about joining a union during a recession, I've been a member for years. Poor old public, having to change the airline they fly with while BA's staff have their jobs on the line.

Oh, and as far as I'm aware having an angry face at the end of your comment doesn't add any credence to your opinion.

Jo_F

I worked in a union factory, and to be honest, I didn't agree with what the union were doing, this was during the 35 hour week strikes in aerospace, so much so that I actually left the union.

I have never joined a union again since, and definately wouldn't work where I had no coice about it.

Maybe I am a strange being, but I appreicate working, and I would like to stay in what ever job I have, and if that means having to make small sacrifices, like not having a payrise etc in order to help the company I work for out, then I am quite prepared to take it.

I am under contract to a company at the moment, in two capacities, one of them, I have just taken a 50% pay cut on my supervisor's pay, and it wasn't exactly a huge amount of pay in the first place, but I know that the company is struggling at the moment, and we have been promised it wil go back up when things get better, and I have no reason to doubt the company on this, we.. being the company and the workers, are all working together on it. It's in everyone's interests to do so.