BA Strike

[Gardian]

Not good news and I feel very sorry for anybody who has already made plans to travel with BA over the Christmas break. I make no comment on the pro's and cons of the cabin crews' case - don't know enough about them yet, though no doubt we'll be hearing a lot more.

But if you have booked with BA, what on earth do you do?  Tough it out and hope for the best?  Make alternative arrangements, which will be virtually impossible if travelling long distance, let alone to/from Europe - and then what happens if the strike gets called off?

[Stefan]

Well the only advice I can think of is that if you are going to reschedule, either with BA on a non-strike date, or with another carrier, you need to do it ASAP.

[Frederick]

According to BA chief exec..Average earnings for cabin service directors £56,000

long haul £52,000 short haul. Junior crew £35,000 and £26,000. According to Civil Aviation Authority BA crews earn twice as much as Virgin Atlantic ... And they want to go on strike ! Given the numbers of unemployed today I would have thought they would have been wiser to keep their heads down .

[AnOther]

Turkeys voting for Christmas [blink]

Wake up and smell the recession !

[Anton Redman]

Try and explain what became of PANAM

[Stefan]

The oft quoted (by the media) CAA figures for "pay" are usually for total employee costs, rather than earnings, so whilst similar grades at BA will earn more than their Virgin counterparts I doubt it's consistently twice as much ( but I stand to be corrected as always).

FWIW the BA strike isn't really about pay, it's about a whole host of other issues that have been bubbling under for a long, long time......but I'd agree entirely that the BA Cabin Crew would have been wiser to keep their heads down in the current climate ...

[Clarkkent]

[quote user="Anton Redman"]

Try and explain what became of PANAM

[/quote]

I'm not sure there is an exact parallel. I worked (briefly) for Pan Am in the early 1970s.

Pan Am was laid low by (a) a refusal by US authorities to allow Pan Am to develop internal US routes, (b) a perception (realistic) by potential passengers that the airline was a constant terrorist target, (c) the investment in a large 747 fleet just before a decline in the market, and (d) a senior management team whose mindset was stuck in the glory days of yesteryear.

BA has been hit by its obsession with premium passengers and its failure to adapt to new market conditions - but this doesn't differentiate it from other full service carriers. However, I also think that its cabin staff require an intellect transplant if they think that their future prosperity will be assured by grounding a loss-making airline. This is pre-Thatcher industrial relations.

[AnOther]

They are playing a game of brinkmanship hoping that Wille Walsh will give in but I rather fear they may have misjudged it this time. This is a make or break watershed I think.

Somebody was on the TV news this morning complaining that they hadn't realised they were voting for a 12 day strike, they thought it was for just 2, and the ballot was just a Yes or No.

My retort to that is there is no obligation on anybody to go on strike for one day, 2 days, or 12, and if they think they have been hoodwinked by their own union then don't strike - simple.

[PaulT]

I find it laughable that the cabin crew are moaning about the number of cabin crew on long haul being reduced by 1.

My experience is that they get food and drinks out as quickly as possible and then occupy the seats right at the back and go to sleep. If passengers are lucky one will still be available but not always.

The comment that one person did not realise they were voting for a 12 day strike - perhaps the union bosses want to look big tough people. Perhaps BA cabin crew need to look at what Arthur Scargill and the NUM did for the miners - they might be looking for jobs with Virgin then they will wistfully look back at what they could have had with BA.

From news reports they seem to have totally alienated the very people on whom they depend for their salaries, the travelling public who may be very reluctant to book BA. Plus, this could also strengthen a European airport to become the main Europe hub rather than Heathrow.

Paul

[Dog]

[quote user="Stefan"]Well the only advice I can think of is that if you are going to reschedule, either with BA on a non-strike date, or with another carrier, you need to do it ASAP.[/quote]

 

Be careful if you make alternative arrangements and the original booking was made after a certain date you cannot make a claim in the event the strike does take place.

[andyh4]

I don't think you can "claim" anyway.  A strike is classed as an extraordinary event and all BA will do is offer you an alternative flight after the stike.

Anyone who has insurance can make a claim for the costs incurred for the ticket bought and any associated costs (hotels etc) provided the ticket and insuarnce was taken out before the possibility of a strike was anounced (beginning of November).  Insurance will not normally cough up for any extra costs you have for buying a replacement flight with another airline ay short notice.  They will also be unlikely to pay up for any costs incurred if the strike is called off.

 

Even with insurnace you are in a low win/no win situation.

[RicandJo]

From BA.com:

If you are booked to travel between 22 December 2009 and 2 January 2009 or for 48 hours on either side of those dates you can:

Rebook your flight:

• to a different time on another BA flight,
• to the same destination as your original booking, 
• within the next twelve months at no extra charge.
  

In the event your flight becomes cancelled because of industrial action, we will offer you the option to:

• refund your ticket,

• rebook on to a different flight or

• reroute your journey on another BA flight or other carriers (subject to availability and agreement).

I for one hope sense comes through - I have to work Christmas eve and am booked on the last BA to Toulouse that evening.  I booked BA mainly because it's the only flight that goes on Christmas Evening.

Fingers and toes crossed............

[Russethouse]

Fingers crossed - whats Plan B ........?

[Gardian]

If I was a betting man, I'd put money on the judge ruling the strike as illegal, even if the grounds are a bit flakey.

That way, everybody can back away without losing face and return to some kind of sensible negotiation in the New Year.  If the strike goes ahead, nobody wins: neither the airline, nor the employees, nor crucially the travelling public.

[Iceni]

Not so Gardian, union officials are not on strike so never lose.

John

[Stefan]

Gardian

I reckon it's 50/50, there have been queries over the behaviour of one or two of the Union Reps, but whatever happend it probably wasn't enough to effect the outcome of the ballot...we'll soon find out what the judge thinks.

[PaulT]

Saw an interesting comparison of BA cabin crews pay, allownaces, leave etc. They must be the envy of the airline industry.

You can see why BA is struggling financially.

Paul

[Gardian]

The judge has declared the strike illegal.

[Russethouse]

 And that's going to make them turn up for work, how ?

[woolybanana]

The solid commonsense of the union membership should now take over and, with any luck, isolate the bunch of suicidal donkeys who got them into this situation in the first place.

This is another Leyland waiting to happen, as is the post office. Funny how the loonies have concentrated in the transport services. Hmmmmm!!

[Stefan]

Russethouse

"And that's going to make them turn up for work, how"

It's the UK - If they don't turn up for work on the 22nd without very good reason they can, correction, will be sacked, instantly, for breach of contract.

In all honesty I think few off them had the stomach for a 12 day strike anyway.

[Gardian]

I haven't seen a news bulletin yet, but I reckon that Stefan is right. In fact, I'd go further.

The Union can't seriously contemplate defiance of a High Court ruling - it would face punitive fines. That doesn't preclude the possibility of 'wildcat' action, but it's effect would probably be relatively minimal and the Union daren't risk the accusation of complicity, whether real or imagined. It will counsel against it, I reckon.

The High Court has done the Union a favour: no crippling strike, which would have totally alienated an already hostile public opinion. An opportunity to go back to the negotiating table, having demonstrated a determination to strike and brought the issue to the public's attention.

However ................. who is going to book a flight with BA anytime until this is sorted? 

[Russethouse]

  Not me, in fact in the long term I suspect they should find a way to start from fresh with many of these practices, some of the more generous conditions of service might be a hang over from BOAC days - long stop overs, big allowances.......

 

[PaulT]

Apparently, there is a blog for BA cabin crew in which there is a very strong feeling that they were not prepared for 12 days of strikes and the fact that the ballot simply said 'Strike, Yes/No'.

The cabin crew have had totally bad publicity with not an ounce of pro publicity.

Perhaps they will see sense and realise that at some point the good times have to end - I am sure that Virgin staff would leap at the jobs for less money and perks.

Paul

[Stefan]

"Perhaps they will see sense and realise that at some point the good times have to end"

At the risk of drifting the thread towards the political...Unfortunately many of the Cabin Crew seem to rely solely for the aformentioned blog for their information and the Union activists active on that site are still whipping things up this morning. I wouldn't rely on a lot of them seeing anything other than the Union's point of view.

( and no, I'm not BA Cabin crew but I know a few of the more enlightened ones...).