BA Strikes

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

This strike has been widely mooted for months. I clearly remember reading about it in the Summer. Would have thought anybody who was thinking of booking BA might have considered giving them a wide berth from then on in and booked with the airlines that don't go on strike. But easy to be wise after the event eh?

We booked ours back in June - 6 of us were going and it was cheaper than Easyjet.

Whatever the outcome of this I will NEVER book with them again.

I had a conversation with a lady at work today whose husband is a Shop Steward at Gatwick for the Baggage Handlers - she reckons they (the Baggage Handlers) are furious with the Cabin Crew, as the Baggage Handlers earlier this year all accepted new work practices including one man less per shift, less breaks etc...as they know how much shit BA is in at the moment.

Walsh will not back down, and having just watched the YouTube video of the Strike meeting, I can't see UNITE backing down either.

This could just finish BA.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Hate to tell you this but for most of the eighties and the part of the nineties they were around it was actually Dan Air that was the second biggest airline. Next came Britania whilst BCal and Air Europe were 4th and 5th.

BCal went under because they paid too much for too little, Air Europe when bust because they tried to run before they could barely walk. As a Charter Airline they did okay but it was the collapse of Intasun and the other ILG Tour Operators along with their abortive attempt to compete with BA as a scheduled carrier that put them out of business.

As a matter of fact Dan Air appointed a new MD just before Air Europe went under and it was his bright idea to try to take over the routes that the demise of Air Europe left. This was equally unsuccessful and left Dan Air being sold off to British Airways for One Penny and they in turn, made most of the staff redundant and only kept the newer Boeing 737s from the Dan Air fleet. The remainder were mainly scrapped.

B Cal were royally screwed by the government stopping them from using Heathrow, that caused them not to get the profitable routes. This was solely done to protect BA prior to their sell off. B Cal never recovered from this and were basically sold out to BA. They paid 320 million and then stripped B Cal's pension fund (illegally though nothing was done about it) in excess of 400 million.

Air Europe as you mention grew too quickly, placing orders for new aircraft but with no routes to fly them on!

I worked as an engineer for B Cal & then BA for 18 years and can tell you the trolley dollies, as a group are the most detested within the airline. They believe they are above all over sections and especially deriding to greasy monkeys like myself. It takes an engineer approx. 7 years to become licensed and approved by the CAA to certify work on aircraft. An average engineer is qualified way beyond degree standard. Compare this to a dolly who takes just 8 weeks to train! Concerning pay I was rewarded a good salary but not one drastically higher than the dollies. My last salary was about 39000 prior to my move into management grades. The thing is the dollies can hold the airline to ransom like they are now whereas with the engineers and pilots etc there are a lot of "qualified" personnel in management that can fill in during disputes. The ratio of workers to management in the dollies is a lot higher so they are unable to fill the gaps.

Personally I believe these people need to wake up and smell their disgusting coffee and be truly thankful they have a job. Finally I'm glad I left the industry (paid off thank you very much after 7/11) and started my own businesses

 

[Billy the Fish]

f*** it, let 'em go bust. If the demand for flights is there then another airline will be able to pick up the profitable routes and buy the planes from BA. The cabin crew can then fight it out between themselves for the jobs that are left on lower salaries than they had before.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

We booked ours back in June - 6 of us were going and it was cheaper than Easyjet.

Whatever the outcome of this I will NEVER book with them again.

Has to be said that BA look doomed, no matter how this strike pans out. Everybody hates them and the current level of losses is completely unsustainable.

 

[bhaexpress]

B Cal were royally screwed by the government stopping them from using Heathrow, that caused them not to get the profitable routes. This was solely done to protect BA prior to their sell off. B Cal never recovered from this and were basically sold out to BA. They paid 320 million and then stripped B Cal's pension fund (illegally though nothing was done about it) in excess of 400 million.

Air Europe as you mention grew too quickly, placing orders for new aircraft but with no routes to fly them on!

I worked as an engineer for B Cal & then BA for 18 years and can tell you the trolley dollies, as a group are the most detested within the airline. They believe they are above all over sections and especially deriding to greasy monkeys like myself. It takes an engineer approx. 7 years to become licensed and approved by the CAA to certify work on aircraft. An average engineer is qualified way beyond degree standard. Compare this to a dolly who takes just 8 weeks to train! Concerning pay I was rewarded a good salary but not one drastically higher than the dollies. My last salary was about 39000 prior to my move into management grades. The thing is the dollies can hold the airline to ransom like they are now whereas with the engineers and pilots etc there are a lot of "qualified" personnel in management that can fill in during disputes. The ratio of workers to management in the dollies is a lot higher so they are unable to fill the gaps.

Personally I believe these people need to wake up and smell their disgusting coffee and be truly thankful they have a job. Finally I'm glad I left the industry (paid off thank you very much after 7/11) and started my own businesses

Bcal went bust for two reasons, they paid more than they could afford and they were owed a fortune by most of the African countries they flew to. As far as the Cabin Staff were concerned as I worked for Dan Air they didn't have much of an attitude as after all, it was Dan Air ! I enjoyed most of my time there and even now I am wary of expenses as things were alwasy ultra tight there. Their problem was that towards the end of their existance their main market was with charters. As it was most of the Tour Operators by then had their own airlines, Intersun and the other ILG firms used Air Europe but spilled over to us. The decline in the Oil Industry in Scotland also took away the lucrative market for the HS 748s which Dan Air had a shed load of.

Worth noting that they were the first airline to fly the BAE 146. It was a dog at the time as it had helicopter engines (still does) but now they are all over the place thanks to their quietness and STOL caperbilities.

One other thing, whilst the Albion were sponsered by BCal in their glory days it was actually a Dan Air HS748 they used to fly to away games. I actually passed up going with the team to their famous 2-1 victory at Annfield as I felt we would be humiliated ! The only time they flew on a BCal plane was when they used their chopper to get to Wembley.

 

[Bluejuice]

wheres the info on the junior members from? i it is a very well attended ballot, 80 or 90% i think, so an overwhelming majority. in contrast to the usuall action we get which can be blamed squarly on the union leaders and their died hards, with paltry turnouts.

commentators are seriously suggesting BA might not survive this, then where will their jobs and pay go? banking on a bail out from the gov?

I only heard a couple of reports from a friend about upset younger cabin crew but the stats seem to speak for themselves. There was an 80% turnout and the vast majority of the cabin crew are in the union so clearly they really are determined to screw BA over.

There won't be a government bail out because there simply isn't the money. We're bust. Nothing left. Zilch.

This strike WILL kill BA as we know it and possibly change the face of commercial aviation forever.

Wonder how it will affect Iberia

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Has to be said that BA look doomed, no matter how this strike pans out. Everybody hates them and the current level of losses is completely unsustainable.

I have to agree. It's is going to be good night BA. The public doesnt like them, judging from the 92% yes vote on a 80% turn out the cabin staff doesnt like them, the are losing money hand over fist so where else can they go?

BA used to be about care, pride and quality of service. This has long gone. They are now just another average airline of which there are plenty. So, what is the point of their existence?

If the cabin crew are to be taken at face value then their gripe is the lowering of standards and reduction in quality which Walsh is wantng to introduce via staff reductions. Apparently crew have been struggling to maintain the level of service for some time now as staff numbers have been slowly cut.

So, hats off to the staff for having some pride in their work and saying they dont want this and not wanting to just be another airline. There might be a recession on, but differentiating yourself from the rest via quality could do you some good. Money is still being spent, but people are more choosy in a recession. If you have a great service you will do well. And this has been proven by a number of quality and sometimes premium businesses which are not only surviving the recession but are actually doing better.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I have to agree. It's is going to be good night BA. The public doesnt like them, judging from the 92% yes vote on a 80% turn out the cabin staff doesnt like them, the are losing money hand over fist so where else can they go?

BA used to be about care, pride and quality of service. This has long gone. They are now just another average airline of which there are plenty. So, what is the point of their existence?

If the cabin crew are to be taken at face value then their gripe is the lowering of standards and reduction in quality which Walsh is wantng to introduce via staff reductions. Apparently crew have been struggling to maintain the level of service for some time now as staff numbers have been slowly cut.

So, hats off to the staff for having some pride in their work and saying they dont want this and not wanting to just be another airline. There might be a recession on, but differentiating yourself from the rest via quality could do you some good. Money is still being spent, but people are more choosy in a recession. If you have a great service you will do well. And this has been proven by a number of quality and sometimes premium businesses which are not only surviving the recession but are actually doing better.

and before anyone tells me to get in the real world I've flown using a number of foreign airlines who all offer a far superior service at a sensible price so it can be done.

Oh, and use Virgin for long haul as they are the dogs.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Court has declared Strikes Illegal!!

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Court has declared Strikes Illegal!!

Really...another vote then? Did I hear correctly the leader of UNITE describing the strike as "An overreaction"..eh? is'nt it his strike?

What a palarver.

 

[Doris_Maywheather]

Hope BA go bust. Flying with Easy jet Xmas and New Year, hope anyone from here who is flying with them get stuck.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Really...another vote then? Did I hear correctly the leader of UNITE describing the strike as "An overreaction"..eh? is'nt it his strike?

What a palarver.

A strike by British Airways cabin crew planned for Christmas has been declared illegal in a High Court ruling.

The court agreed with BA that the cabin crew's union, Unite, had not correctly balloted its members on the strike action.

The injunction means that the 12-day strike cannot now go ahead.

Unite called it "a disgraceful day for democracy" and vowed to hold a fresh ballot of cabin crew if the dispute with BA was not resolved.

British Airways said the decision would be welcomed by "hundreds of thousands of families in the UK and around the world".

"There was never any need for a strike and we hope that Unite will take this opportunity to reflect before deciding its next steps," a statement from the company said.

"In recent days, we believe Unite has formed a better understanding of our position and of the ways in which we could move forward.

"It has also become very clear that our customers do not believe that old-style trade union militancy is relevant to our efforts to move British Airways back toward profitability."

Unite's joint general secretaries, Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley said the dispute was "far from settled".

"While we have never wanted this dispute, it is a disgraceful day for democracy when a court can overrule such an overwhelming decision by employees taken in a secret ballot," they said.

"The fact remains that this dispute is not settled.

"BA must accept that there can be no resolution except through negotiation, failing which there will inevitably be a further ballot for industrial action."

 

[Bluejuice]

I think the more investigation that went into this the more Unite got embarrassed. It wasn't their leader who claimed it was an overreaction but he was somebody senior within the union who sounded as if he didn't agree.

And now they're all going to have to work after all. HA!

Can you imagine the antipathy towards the staff over the Christmas period from passengers who nearly lost their holidays thanks to the greed of some of these overpaid top of the scale cabin attendants?

They just thought they could get away with holding the company to ransom, and thanks to the Union's own f*** up they're not going to get away with it after all. Thereby saving BA, for now

 

[Easy 10]

Hah. Suck on THAT, Unite.
I can see quite a few BA passengers saying "gee thanks for trying to f*** up my Christmas" to the trolly dollys as they serve their grisley in-flight meals. Good effort.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Can you imagine the antipathy towards the staff over the Christmas period from passengers who nearly lost their holidays thanks to the greed of some of these overpaid top of the scale cabin attendants?

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Hah. Suck on THAT, Unite.
I can see quite a few BA passengers saying "gee thanks for trying to f*** up my Christmas" to the trolly dollys as they serve their grisley in-flight meals. Good effort.

I wonder how many of them will now pull a sickie over Christmas/New Year.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Hah. Suck on THAT, Unite.
I can see quite a few BA passengers saying "gee thanks for trying to f*** up my Christmas" to the trolly dollys as they serve their grisley in-flight meals. Good effort.

Yeah, and at the same time I can imagine a fair few of the cabin crew gobbing in the meals seeing as how they are now working under duress...

"Special sauce on your pasta sir?"

"No thanks love, I'm fine"

 

[Easy 10]

indeed
And no doubt the 92% who voted in favour of the strike will now suddenly and mysteriously "transform" to one of the 8% who voted against it. Those who voted FOR it will become rarer than hens teeth.

"No no, I voted against strike action of course. Would you like one of our undersized cans of lager ? That'll be £4.75. Thank you".

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

indeed
And no doubt the 92% who voted in favour of the strike will now suddenly and mysteriously "transform" to one of the 8% who voted against it. Those who voted FOR it will become rarer than hens teeth.

"No no, I voted against strike action of course. Would you like one of our undersized cans of lager ? That'll be £4.75. Thank you".

All true Easy, except for the price of the beer.

It's free on BA (or rather it's included in thier prices)

I am one happy man this afternoon, and have a VERY Happy Family. Thank you Mrs JUSTICE Cox.




Sitting at the High Court, Mrs Justice Cox agreed that Unite had improperly included BA employees already set to leave the company in the ballot.

 

[Easy 10]

All true Easy, except for the price of the beer.

It's free on BA (or rather it's included in thier prices)

I am one happy man this afternoon, and have a VERY Happy Family. Thank you Mrs JUSTICE Cox.




Sitting at the High Court, Mrs Justice Cox agreed that Unite had improperly included BA employees already set to leave the company in the ballot.

I stand corrected. Thank you for rectifying my gross assumption.

As an aside, was this strike really declared illegal solely due to Unite incorrectly sending ballots to ex-employees ? Because that won't have materially affected the vote would it.

I got the impression that the cabin crew staff who voted in favour thought that it'd be one or two days worth of strikes, and didn't realise that Unite were going to impose a 12 day jobbie right through Christmas. If Unite didn't make that clear to them before ballotting then I'm not surprised it was declared illegal.