BA Christmas Strikes

[Octohohohoho]

To think that maybe they are selfish gits who are screwing up my family's christmas and thousands of others? It really could wait til the new year.

Shame on you.

YANBU

Twunts

Hate them

If it's not sorted my dear Dad (pensioner) will not be able to come over here to see his GC and he will lose his money (which I will refund).

Hateful BA bastards.

ho ho f*king ho

I haven't seen my sister or nephew since last summer (2008) and they are due to fly on the 23rd

Between the management and the unions there will be no BA (and no jobs) this time next year.

but point of any strike is to cause maximum disruption and inconvenience to demonstrate employee discontent and gain some leverage

so from ba union point of view yes it disrupts.no point striking at quiet time is there

and as inconvenient as it is for passengers ,workers have right to strike and demonstrate against grievance

That's obvious - as long as they walk away happy with themselves and some self respect then well done them.

Some workers have to right to strike!

They will loose so much public support though striking at such a sensitive time - shame on them! I would never choose to fly BA, have always thought they were rubbish, this just adds to it.

Unlikely though and as already posted - BA is in trouble and they are unlikely to have a job to moan about if they persist.

x post with McDreamy.

Shame on them all.

It is an awful isn't it? So selfish. There is no way I would support any company that chose to strike in this way and cause so much upset and stress ver Christmas for so many families. They are potentially ruining children's christmases. How utterly selfish.

Yes, I know the point of strikes is to cause disruption to others - but really. This is so low.

I just can't support them if they do this.

Sack the lot of them and give the jobs to people who will do them.

How spiteful to do this at christmas

they might have a right to strike but they shoudl be utterly ashamed of themselves....aas i have said on the other thread christmas is a time for families and for thousands of people this isnt going to be the case this year because of their selfishness!

DH just been reading in paper about it.

Apparently the average wage of cabin crew on BA is just ver £29k a year. On Virgin Atlantic it is just over £14k.

i imagine union beleive they have grievances too

my point here isnt the specifics of ba strike it is that most workers (not police or military) have fundamental right to withdraw labour if aggrieved

the union aren't purposefully trying to keep families apart and stop grandparents seeing children.they are trying to exert a leverage with their employer. unfortunately the public are caught in crossfire

We are supposed to be flying on 2nd Jan so not sure if we are affected or not. Everyone is having to make cutbacks so why not them?

They have already cancelled our flight once since we booked.

do you thnk they will go ahead with it? am due to fly home- and out of the UK for good!- on 22nd. I have booked another flight (at great expense) as a backup as i literally cannot afford not to fly out that day, as i will have nowhere to live... am mightily pi**ed off

Everytime my sister flies something happens.

I disagree scottishmummy. The union are deliberatelytrying to keep families apart at Chrtsmas. They have deliberately chosen this time period to cause maximum disruption. They know that by these actions they are preventing family and friends from ebing together over Christmas and that IMO means that they are chosing to spoil people's families.

They know exactly what they are doing.

They might not be deliberately trying to keep families apart and stop grandparents seeing children, but this is the obvious result of striking at Christmas and so they should have been aware that this would be the result when they decided to strike.

Given that BA gets a lot more profit from business class fares than economy, you'd think that it would actually be more effective for the union (and less of a PR bullet in the foot) to strike when business travellers are more likely to be flying - i.e. NOT at Christmas time.

I also support the right to strike, but I think that this timing is rubbish and really rotten for customers, and also shows the general attitude of BA to its customers. On the basis of previous poor experiences with them, I wouldn't fly BA on a bet. I am really sorry for those of you who have been decent enough to support the national airline and been disadvantaged because of it.

Pity it wasn't Gate Gourmet striking again, I could have made a killing on the catering side of things.

strikes are supposed to hurt and send a message otherwise why strike? no point striking at quiet period is there and yes for those affected this is hellish and harrowing.

but i am surprised people cannot see that in a combative industrial action an employee will try hit employer hard and were it hurts

Minor whinge in comparison to you other lovely ladies, but we were going to have our first christmas alone just the 4 of us as Mum and Dad were going to be away.. I was soo excited but now they are making it clear that they will be with us if they aren't on holiday.. {grumpy old bag emotion}

BA cabin crew are amongst the best paid but have been used to this for a long time and don't like being told they are in fact like other airlines.

The rest of BA have settled their new pay deal and taken cuts but the cabin crew have refused.

Obviously there are two sides to this story but in my extensive travel experience they are one of the worst airlines I have flown with.

I don't have a right to strike in my job.

Oh I can see exactly why they are doing it scottishmummy. I just don't agree with their actions and will not support them over this.

I am not even affected by the strikes, but when you read on other threads of a mother not being able to fly back to be with her children - well, I know who I feel for - and it isn't the BA workers that's for sure.

Just one more reason for me as to why I will chose Virgin again over BA.

This is the message on the Executive Club section of the BA website:

A message from Willie Walsh

You may have heard that Unite, the union that represents our cabin crew, has threatened strike action between December 22, 2009 and January 2, 2010.

Let me say immediately we will do everything we can to assist you at what will clearly be a very difficult time if strikes go ahead. We are working hard on contingency plans, and will announce them as soon as they are finalised.

We are also urging Unite to return to the negotiating table. There are important issues on which we have asked them to put forward new ideas.

Strike action is completely unjustified.

It's no secret that British Airways is in financial difficulty. Like other global airlines, we have been hit extremely hard by the slump in business travel brought on by the world recession.

We lost £400m last year and will lose at least as much this year. These are the worst financial results in our history. Our revenue is down £1 billion, so reducing costs is absolutely essential even to begin heading back toward profitability and long-term survival.

Many of my colleagues understand this. Our pilots have agreed a pay cut. Our engineers have agreed more efficient ways of working. A third of our managers have accepted voluntary redundancy. And nearly 7,000 colleagues volunteered for salary reductions because they wanted to help this great British company in a time of need.

But our cabin crew union has refused to engage in this process seriously.

My admiration for the professionalism and skills of British Airways cabin crew is second to none. They are an absolutely vital part of our airline, and a great asset. But they have been disgracefully misled by Unite as to how our company-wide cost reduction programme would affect them.

Unite claims that we are trying to "intimidate workers into accepting poorer contracts", forcing crew to leave the company, and "attacking" their pay and allowances.

This is fiction. Our package involves no reduction in terms or conditions for existing crew. Our Heathrow crew will remain the best paid in the industry. Average earnings for cabin services directors are £56,000 on long-haul and £52,000 on short-haul. For junior crew, they are £35,000 and £26,000 respectively. According to the Civil Aviation Authority, average costs of BA crew are twice those of their Virgin Atlantic counterparts.

In fact, despite our financial backdrop, more than 10,000 of our cabin crew will receive pay rises of between two and seven per cent this year, and again next year. In the worst recession since the Second World War, these are increases many employees in other walks of life can only dream about.

We have created opportunities for voluntary redundancy, and more than 1,000 crew have taken that option. Similarly, more than 3,000 crew have volunteered to switch to part-time working.

To accommodate these requests, we have made a small change in our onboard crew numbers from Heathrow, without affecting service standards. Our Gatwick flights have been operating on equivalent crew numbers for years - with Unite's agreement.

Unite's chief complaint seems to be that we are "imposing" the changes at Heathrow. The truth is we had been discussing them with the union for nine months but, despite all the evidence of the company's (and the industry's) financial plight, Unite would not be realistic about the clear imperative to reduce costs.

We could not wait any longer. We moved ahead, making sure that our changes were squarely based on voluntary choices for individuals.

Unite claims the changes affect contractual terms and conditions. We believe they do not. The union failed to gain an injunction to prevent their introduction, but a full court hearing to settle the contractual question has been set for February 2010.

We do not understand why Unite is threatening you with disrupted travel plans now over an issue that the courts are preparing to resolve in a few weeks.

A strike can achieve nothing except huge upset and inconvenience for you. We will do our best to provide as much help and support as we can.

Willie Walsh

Last Updated: 15:22 - 14 December 2009