Poll: Do you support the BA Cabin Crew 12 day strike at Christmas?

[Over Clocker]

No, BA cabin crew earn so much more than cabin crew on other airlines. Do a Thatcher, tell them you are going to fire all of them and employ fresh people on new contracts...

 

[meghatronic]

No, BA cabin crew earn so much more than cabin crew on other airlines. Do a Thatcher, tell them you are going to fire all of them and employ fresh people on new contracts...

How would that work? If you sack everyone that striked (legality aside) who would work why you trained new staff?

I'm pretty sure if you used phased sackings, everonye else would strike (legally or otherwise) in protest.

 

[dannyjo22]

No, BA cabin crew earn so much more than cabin crew on other airlines. Do a Thatcher, tell them you are going to fire all of them and employ fresh people on new contracts...

What a genius idea.

How about they sack all the captains and F.O's as well. Perhaps all their engineers as well, after all they earn more than me at easyJet, how ****ing dare they.

How about they sack the CEO as well he earns more than our CEO and we turn a profit.

Facepalm.

 

[Over Clocker]

Facepalm ... Thatcher used it as a threat.....

 

[Nash]

No, because it means my girlfriend probably can't fly from Bermuda to London for Christmas

Yay it's come so she can probably come now! I'd still never fly BA again (unless they were the cheapest by far).

 

[Biohazard]

What a genius idea.

How about they sack all the captains and F.O's as well. Perhaps all their engineers as well, after all they earn more than me at easyJet, how ****ing dare they.

How about they sack the CEO as well he earns more than our CEO and we turn a profit.

Facepalm.

lol

thatcher policy should stay in the past, although i fear the worst has yet to come.

 

[Indy500]

Heh, the cargo division is the only real profit-making area in BA and it still had staff cuts. My associate there is a trainer so was kept on, although overtime is now rare. All that said, the staff did have it easy for a while until more recent economic changes (lower demand post-2001). The company's been a closed shop for several years, only internal recruitment since then, hence the large number of staff with many years service and higher overall wages.

 

[JBuk]

What a genius idea.

How about they sack all the captains and F.O's as well. Perhaps all their engineers as well, after all they earn more than me at easyJet, how ****ing dare they.

How about they sack the CEO as well he earns more than our CEO and we turn a profit.

Facepalm.

Nah, it's just the dinner monkeys that need sacking

 

[Killajaz]

UNITE is preparing for a new ballot.

Of course, no surprise there. For them not to ballot would be tantamount to declaring defeat and closing up shop.

If this goes ahead we're looking at end of January, early February.
Speaking of BA; I tried the new London City to JFK service last week.
It was quite good. Avoding US immigration at JFK is brilliant

Pre clearance in Shannon, where refueling is done, due to the LCY runway being to short.

Good old NY.

I do prefer the Upper Deck Club World cabin however.
And obviously First is still the winner:

Anyway, BA are onto a winner unless the economy does a double dip and tanks again.

 

[zetec452]

You rich git. I'd love to have the money to fly business or first class.

 

[Berserker]

I've never understood giving extra pay just for length of service, I believe in the concept of equal pay for equal work.

It's quite simple really - you're paying for knowledge and experience. That might not count for much if you're stacking shelves (it might take a week to train someone else to do that job), but in a skilled job knowledge counts for a lot (you might be facing several months down time if they left).

Anyway, I'm glad the strike is off. There are circumstances under which a strike is justified, but 12 days over Christmas was frankly just taking the ****. The union leadership knew that (or at least half of them did), the cabin crew (who voted to strike - not when or how long) knew it. Even the judge knew it.

As for the Union's proposal to suspend the strike - how on earth can you stop something that has already happened? Of course, you can't - just another indication of Union arrogance.

PS - This doesn't mean I'm in support of the management. Industrial relations is a two-way process and both sides need to get their act together right now.

 

[2StepSteve]

I think they are wrong to strike especially at this time of year and I am glad that today it was deemed to be an illegal strike.

The unions do make me laugh lately... Royal Mail were similar. They are grasping that shotgun with both hands and aiming over the foot and squeezing the trigger.

"Our members are fed up of the conditions".. Jesus, get another ******* job then. My same response goes to this worker http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article6960318.ece - to quote:

"...This and nights out of bed, not able to sleep, jet-lag and missing loved ones’ birthdays, parties and family get-togethers — not much of a social life."

Awww my heart bleeds for you! But wait a second, doesn't all that come with the job? ffs! Blimey, if you aren't happy with it then get another job!

Unions have way too much power these days, it is one thing a boss/company taking the mickey out of a workforce and the union acting properly in their defence, but with this it just seems like a great big bandwagon. These unions are surely doing more damage than good lately to the state of our country.

What makes me laugh in a different way is why are the main union rep always cockney?! See them all the time on the news mouthing off, annoying.

 

[dannyjo22]

"Our members are fed up of the conditions".. Jesus, get another ******* job then. .

Life isn't that simple but it's the usual quote banded about by IT monkeys on here with 100 jobs in their town the same that they can move around to. You should be able to fight for decent conditions where you work, when your airport based your choices are more limiting so you fight for what you have rather than move around.

IUnions have way too much power these days.

Rubbish they have next to none. It's much harder to get to the point of a legal strike than many people seem to think. If the unions still had power they would walk out when first upset and not lose their jobs.

It takes far more than that these days to be able to strike.

With regards to aviation the only union I've ever known to have any strength is Balpa because they stick together pretty well.

I lost thousands this year from my company and I'd love to have been able to strike but getting to the point where that was legal wasn't possible. It's a myth that all these unions have ultra power over companies.

 

[2StepSteve]

Life isn't that simple but it's the usual quote banded about by IT monkeys on here with 100 jobs in their town the same that they can move around to. You should be able to fight for decent conditions where you work, when your airport based your choices are more limiting so you fight for what you have rather than move around.

When I say get another job I mean go work for another airline, if you work for an airline then you are surely based near an airport and have other operators to look towards. Probably have just as good a chance as the IT monkey at finding another job.

But from what I hear BA staff get paid better than other airline staff, so I guess they won't be looking for anywhere else.

The woman's reasons for striking in the link I posted did not make much sense, I am not saying that her reasons are shared by others. Why isn't the media covering more of what exactly the problem is with BA staff? All I hear are unfair conditions with no exact detail.

Rubbish they have next to none. It's much harder to get to the point of a legal strike than many people seem to think. If the unions still had power they would walk out when first upset and not lose their jobs.

It takes far more than that these days to be able to strike.

With regards to aviation the only union I've ever known to have any strength is Balpa because they stick together pretty well.

I lost thousands this year from my company and I'd love to have been able to strike but getting to the point where that was legal wasn't possible. It's a myth that all these unions have ultra power over companies.

How is it a myth that unions have much power?

Every year around this time in the lead up to Christmas when they know it will hurt the company the most they go for a strike, that to me is power. If there is a well explained reason then I am all for strike action, but I hear no precise reasons for the strikes.

Anyone here work for BA? As it seems you are being misrepresented by the media. Even the union rep who was interviewed during the first statement of strike action did a terrible job at explaining the reasons for strike action, probably why the vote of this thread as gone the way it has done and why many people are annoyed, it being Christmas after all.

 

[dannyjo22]

How is it a myth that unions have much power? .

Because in this country you cannot walk out or strike without damn good reason. It takes a while before it can even be legal. It takes a complete failure to agree.

The last company I worked for would often keep negotiations going by offering an extra 0.1% everytime it looked like things might turn nasty.

By offering the .1 they are still in negotiation, it has to be balleted each and every time. You cannot just walk out, you cannot just strike.

Its a myth that unions have all the power. Those days thankfully are long gone.

 

[Killajaz]

You rich git. I'd love to have the money to fly business or first class.

Premium travel can be had for less than you think. 3 years ago I did not think I would ever stump up the money for Long-Haul Business or First. I've gained sufficient knowledge to these days to be able to find great fares.
Also, I chose not to spend money on Computing in the same extent as previously. So it is also about priorities.

 

[hurfdurf]

What are the qualifications needed to become a trolley dolley?

 

[z3b3dy]

Anyway, BA are onto a winner unless the economy does a double dip and tanks again.

1K?

Have upgraded the in-flight entertainment systems at all? I'm in that seat on the 1st January and am hoping that it's better than when I was in it last time.

 

[Freefaller]

What are the qualifications needed to become a trolley dolley?

Female: Big boobs, fake smile, and look good in a bad fitting skirt.

Male: Gay, camp, and a bitch.

 

[Dolph]

Rubbish they have next to none. It's much harder to get to the point of a legal strike than many people seem to think. If the unions still had power they would walk out when first upset and not lose their jobs.

It takes far more than that these days to be able to strike.

You have to hold a ballot with a majority of voters supporting the action and have attended negotiations. That's about it, the union can still hold a strike over pretty much anything, there is no requirement for the demands of the union to be reasonable in their demands at all. Want individually personalised gold toilet seats as part of contract renegotiation? There's a strike for that...

Hence, yes, they have too much power, strike laws currently are a bully's charter without any responsibility on how the power to strike is used.