BAA airport staff vote for strike action

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BAA airport staff vote for strike action

I hope they all get sacked. They're lucky to have a job never mind a pay rise.

Unite have a lot to answer for.

ILW

Believe the Unite boss got a nice little payrise last year, and will drawing his full salary while the drones are on strike earning nothing.

misskool

reckon the unite boss will give up some of his salary for the workers who are not earning anything when they strike?

Spartacus_Mills

Unite have done nothing wrong here. Their members have rejected a pay offer and have excercised their democratic right.

I do not necessarily agree with it but the Union seems to be handling this dispute properly. They have not jumped in immediately with dates for strike action. They have given BAA a few days to think about it.

People blame UNITE for the mess with BA but really the blame lies with BASSA.

Wookster

Spartacus_Mills wrote: »

People blame UNITE for the mess with BA but really the blame lies with BASSA.

How does BASSA affect a strike at BAA airports?

Spartacus_Mills

Wookster wrote: »

How does BASSA affect a strike at BAA airports?

It doesn't and I never said it did.

drc

The BA turkeys have voted for Christmas...

yelf

Unite should be disbanded. They have no place in the current world and help no one but themselves. They only strike to justify their extortionate membership fees.

Spartacus_Mills

Far be it for me to defend the Union and the members but....

Last year when BAA was struggling the workers were asked to accept a pay freeze which they did. They did this to help BAA.

This year BAA has done significantly better. The workers have been offered 1%. Okay I know other workers in other areas are not getting offers like that and are taking pay cuts but BAA has come through its problems and is doing well.

The workers are asking for something better than 1% on the back of this. After all they have helped contribute towards the improved performance.

I, personally, can see where they are coming from. I do not see how BAA on the one hand when they are struggling expect the workers (and get them to) not take a wage rise then when they do well offer them a small increase. Let's not just round on UNITE and the workers over this. UNITE are not rushing into strike action, they have said they are not discussing this til Monday. Plenty of time for BAA to review their position.

Procrastinator333

I do feel a bit of sympathy, 0% and then 1%, but I think they should take a look at BAA and the state it is in:

http://www.baa.com/assets/Internet/BAA%20Airports/Downloads/Static%20files/BAA_SP_Ltd_H1_2010_results.pdf

Page 7 - exclude the one off items, Impairment, gain on disposal and Fair value loss, they made a £110m loss on a turnover of £960m

First 6 months of last year they made a £370m loss.

Then look at the balance sheet page 15. Short term asets are £486m compared to short term liabilities of £2.44bn. It doesn't explain what the short term liabilities are, but at face value, they may have a cash crunch soon.

Also look at the cashflow statement page 16. If you take out the rights issue and derivatives, they burnt through some £100m of cash in the year.

So you have a loss making company with high levels of current liabilities that is not cash generative.

Please, I'm not saying they are about to go pop. But that is a pretty dire position for a company to be in. If I worked for a company with a set of results and balance sheet like that, I would consider 0% a very generous offer.

Generali

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

I do feel a bit of sympathy, 0% and then 1%, but I think they should take a look at BAA and the state it is in:

http://www.baa.com/assets/Internet/BAA%20Airports/Downloads/Static%20files/BAA_SP_Ltd_H1_2010_results.pdf

Page 7 - exclude the one off items, Impairment, gain on disposal and Fair value loss, they made a £110m loss on a turnover of £960m

First 6 months of last year they made a £370m loss.

Then look at the balance sheet page 15. Short term asets are £486m compared to short term liabilities of £2.44bn. It doesn't explain what the short term liabilities are, but at face value, they may have a cash crunch soon.

Also look at the cashflow statement page 16. If you take out the rights issue and derivatives, they burnt through some £100m of cash in the year.

So you have a loss making company with high levels of current liabilities that is not cash generative.

Please, I'm not saying they are about to go pop. But that is a pretty dire position for a company to be in. If I worked for a company with a set of results and balance sheet like that, I would consider 0% a very generous offer.

Isn't it a bit more complicated than that though? I think they're a wholly owned subsidiary of Ferrovial so the assets and especially the liabilities on the balance sheet can be changed to suit the needs of the parent company.

I'm not disagreeing as such, just saying that the liabilities side of the balance sheet needs to be treated with caution as the parent can decide to roll over intercompany debt or just turn it into equity. At least that's what I believe from my very basic accounting* knowledge.





*Not false modesty, if anything I'm bragging!