Interesting this; the legal challenge is based on dodgy balloting. Apparently Unite has sent out ballot papers to people that no longer work for BA or are in the process of leaving.

Now the wife can corroborate that this has indeed happened as she knows of three people all of whom are ex-BA cabin crew, all of whom received ballot papers.

In addition, while in conversation with a group of cabin crew at the office, of the six she talked to, four weren't aware that you don't get paid while on strike.

This strike is going to really bite the cabin crew in the ass and Unite ought to be first agaisnt the wall following the revolution for being utter f***k wits for thinking it a good idea to call a strike over Christmas. It's good evidence for a union acting in its own interests rather than the interests of its members.

Oooh wait, hang on, that sounds an awful lot like the argument for unions against corporate managers. How strange – plus ca change….

company loosing money – check.
pretty good deal compared to other airlines – check.
want to make the traveling public hate you – check.

all out brothers and sisters!
genius

To me it sounds like Unite are getting ready for a series of tough battles – especially public service and they need to show they are tough. This is them drawing the line in the sand with a relatively small number of members who will have a huge impact.

12 days eh – I couldnt afford to strike for that long.

Wouldnt have been suprised if BA get the injunction
the workers will have to aggree to go status quo and continue normal
working duties whilst the union talks with BA.
Theres no way a court of law will accept and aggree in the workers
favour if BA goes to the courts to stop the strike.

The persons whom have received ballot papers may still
contribute to the union and may have not told that they have left
and still work for BA but in another department.
But those who still work there regardless of about to leave yes
they still have a right to vote there is no wrong doing there.

Grantway wrote, "Theres no way a court of law will accept and aggree in the workers favour if BA goes to the courts to stop the strike."

The court is likely to take into account the fact that it made no difference whatsoever to the results, even assuming every invalid vote was a "yes" and removing them you'd still have an overwhelming yes vote. An 80% turnout with 90% in favour is a pretty staggering endorsement of the union's call to strike. Given the circumstances of the invalid votes- people who were awaiting or had just been made redundant- it's an understandable oversight.

I'm meant to be flying out to Denver on the 22nd to spend my first Christmas with the in-laws, and now i don't know what the hell is going on. The Fiancee is already over there and she is devastated that i may end up not getting there… Surely the strike won't happen… Surely? 😕

The whole thing will cost BA dearly, even if the whole 12 days of Christams as we are calling here go ahead which i doubt there will some disruption and T5 will be a mess for days after.

As i mentioned in a previous post in our office there are 3 of us booked to come out on the 28th from Tripoli on BA, we cut and run early and rebooked but that is over 3k they have lost in our office alone and the BA office in Tripoli was full yesterday AM so the damage is done when you think of the replication of that scenario around the World.

Not a very clever ploy by the Unions no matter what you think of them but a kick in the nuts for UK Plc. IMHO

Listening to the news last night it appears that most of the cabin crew that they spoke to were shocked when the union took the strike vote & then said "OK – we're going out for 12 days"

As a member of Unite – I think they've made a terrible PR blunder here & the revelations that an email was sent out from a branch office telling members not to worry about people's Christmas' being ruined as it'll all be forgotten about soon is disgusting, if true

Other half just come back from work yesterday (BA Cityflyer) and most cabin crew are shocked that 12 days over christamas was the unions choice. There are reps who are feeling decidedly unhappy about it. I seems that the ballot paper was not well worded.

THis is now unite against BA, winner gets their own way loser is severly weakened. Mind you the winner is weakened as well. Could be make or break for them both and they could both end up broken.

I seems that the ballot paper was not well worded.

Generally, a ballot paper wouldn't go into details other than the option to take action or not.
It's then usually the union that decides what that action should be, in this case they appear to have gone for life without parole

If someone has left BA, but their union subs are up to date, then that's why ballot papers would have been sent out to them.
If you're "leaving", you are, by definition, still on the BA pay roll, ergo, you can vote.
The strikers are to receive strike funds.

Bring out the Swiss Air model.
Company goes into receivership.
Subsidurary company takes / buys the routes & take off slots. Same now redundant people are cherry picked on new contracts.
Witness: the Phoenix that was BA.
Loud fanfare. Willy gets public applaud for sticking to his guns and being seen to be the People's Champion.

I think unite have shot themselves in the foot, and in doing so will have severely weakened themselves, and BA.

12 days is a joke and over the score in what is required.

And for someone to think that it'll all be forgotten soon enough … errr, no …. people will simply think " KLM or BA ? for that important flight in 6 months time? KLM thanks, cant trust BA "

Its a foolish move in a time where economies of business and countries are struggling to find their feet again. Striking and making the water deeper is only going to prolong recovery of business and economy.

Did you know that there are Cabin Service Directors, that is to say, basically the senior hostess/host on a long haul flight, who earn, wait for it, £52,000 a year.

For serving drinks, that's not a bad salary!

They do more than serve drinks, to be fair, it's a vital part of the onboard safety to have well trained crew. But the poin isn't missed. Supposedly the average for a normal crew member is £29K. Industry average is closer to 19, Virgin pay closer to 14 (according to my Dad who reads the papers before anyone shouts me down, just passing on what he said this am)

Further – they use more staff on their planes than almost anyone else eg: 15 in 747's (which they want to cut to 14 vs industry average of 13 and a legal minimum of 12)

They then have some sort of system of promotion by years done as opposed to need / ability, so on any crew there may well be several 'manager level' salaries even if they aren't actually CSD's in name

Extrapolating then to a completely hypothetical scenario where BA run 15 crew on a 747 of who let's say 4 are actually managers as opposed to crew, the annual bill there is over £500,000

Vs a.n.other airline where the average wage is £19K for 11 crew plus let's say 2 managers at £40K – the bill there is £289,000

Hmmmm…. can anyone spot why they want to rethink this?

Have we done the difference in pay between LGW and LHR yet?

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article6466748.ece

company loosing money – check.
pretty good deal compared to other airlines – check.
want to make the traveling public hate you – check

Of course if you are a bit higher up the ladder record loses need not mean pay cuts as willy walsh gets a 6% rise this year to take a nearly 750k salary before share options – http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article6474165.ece

he did also go the whole of July (I think) on no salary – so that's an 8% cut on this year at least.

he did also go the whole of July (I think) on no salary – so that's an 8% cut on this year at least.

Trust theotherjonv to ruin a good headline grabbing statement with some facts.

I was suprised to hear on the TV this morning that when they send out the 'do you want to strike' letter, there is no information as to how long they will be striking for or when.

They were saying that a lot of staff were very shocked that it was for so long and that it was over Christmas.

I do get the saftey part of the cabin crews role. They are there primarily to get you off the plane in an emergency and they serve drinks as a secondary consideration. But I'm amazed that what is a relatively easy role to train for would put you in the top 10% of wage earners in the uk.
CEO salary is a whole other argument. The number of people who have the capability of running any airline let alone one as complicated and broken as BA is very small. His pay reflects the scarcity of his talent whereas cabin crew pay reflects over inflated wage negotiations and the inheritance of a fat and lazy public sector attitude.

Haven't the insurers fecked BA?
In the newspaper, they have said that they won't cover any claims on tickets purchased after 2nd Nov due to strikes as they claim the customers should have assumed that there would be strikes. Now BA may pay this themselves BUT if they go pop, the insurers are going to show a finger to any claims resulting for that.
Who's going to buy a ticket from BA now?
Have I got that wrong?

geetee1972 Agree with all but for one part Wille Walsh moved from Air Lingus to BA, not exactly in the same league as BA .. or not at the moment but with his arrogant disrespect for both passengers and staff and constant failures like T5s opening and BAs disintigrating standards of service in the air he will soon take them there.

(Mr Angry, Gold Card member with BA) only because the company pays for the flights otherwise i would go with Emirates, Virgin, Cathay, and many others before BA.

I was suprised to hear on the TV this morning that when they send out the 'do you want to strike' letter, there is no information as to how long they will be striking for or when.

As I pointed out further up the thread – that's the normal way it's done
The membership vote on whether or not to take action & the union leaders decide what form the action will take

anokdale – Member
BAs disintigrating standards of service in the air he will soon take them there.

To be fair, isn't this largely down to the crew who are striking?

jimbobrighton – A lot of people i talk to on flights say the attutude of cabin staff is down to bad management so yes the cabin staff have some blame but some must fall on others to put them in a foul mood.

of course the union mgt who decide on what strike action to take still get paid….

anokdale – Member
jimbobrighton – A lot of people i talk to on flights say the attutude of cabin staff is down to bad management so yes the cabin staff have some blame but some must fall on others to put them in a foul mood.

Just an excuse – you can't go on about how highly trained and professional you are while at the same time moan about your management/employer to your customers.

It's inappropriate. It's unprofessional.

At the end of the day it's not the customers fault, but guess what? they are the ones, once again that are being made to pay for the poor relationship between the company and the union.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8418805.stm

I was right I knew it wouldnt happen