about the forthcoming BA strike?

[iwastooearlytobeayummymummy]

DS (11)is supposed to be going on a much anticipated school trip next week, but both outward and return dates are strike days.
I can't begin to tell you how much he has been looking forward to this trip.

DD3 (13 )is also away, at the same time, on a choir trip, but flying with another operator.

Excited at the prospect of 2 children away,and happy to leave DD2 ( 18) home alone, DH and I have booked a much needed break ourselves, first time away without the children in 5 years.

Now everything is 'up in the air', no pun intended .

Can somebeody please explain why cabin crew are so aggreived? I've had a look at BBC's overview of the reasons behind the strike, but don't really get it.I also work for an organisation ( local authority actually) that has announced a 2 year pay freeze, recruitment freeze and forthcoming redundancies. Apart from free tea bags and instant coffee I get no other priveliges.

IABU to think they've got nothing to strike over?

funnily enough I am yet to see one of these threatening texts. We tend to send each other whatever news we get, and I'm thinking it's got to be made up!

Your DH won't think too much of Bassa, their union Balpa would never allow the level of compromise we 've had to take over the years. A few months ago a few other crew and I showed our first officer (we didn't like the captain very much) our printed payslips, he was seriously surprised as he expected us to earn more, I'm sure your DH is in that category of pilots? Otherwise he wouldn't feed you all this spite.

Anyway had a fantastic day at the pickets today, there were so many crew that we had to hire two more buses to do the rounds at the picket lines. I did 2 pickets and then joined in with the protest at Bedfont. There were drums and various other instruments to make lots of noise! I got talking to BBC presenter Luisa Baldini, who told me (and 2 other friends) that they'd sent an undercover journo to T5 and he said it was a ghost town! She said Willie Walsh is obviously not telling the truth about the flights, but we knew that.

Pinkicheesy, you sound just like the corporate dictators running my airline: soying on the crew's every move and punish them with discipinary action!
Again, I now get the fuller picture of this thread. Some of you are full of resentment (and a good dose of envy) towards the stewardesses that your DHs spend the night with!

(p.s. I don't "do" flight-deck, btw, let alone married ones!)

I mean that I'm not one of those stewardesses that flirt, snog or have sex with the pilots. I've just realised why some posters on here (the pilots' wives' knitting club)are so resentful.

"nasty Tory"?

"knitting club"?

PMSL.

OSTG I don't think you should be naming where you are picketing am not saying that you should not be out there or anything but this is an open forum
Re Your talk with Luisa Baldini and her comment about T5 Sky News reporters corrected CC on the picket line in regard to the numbers there he could only say a few hundreds CC said in the thousands on the pickrt line, also T5 looked to be fairly busy on TV . All sides seem to be airing their own opinion I am hoping a mediator will appear and a middle ground will be found because if this continues will we have a Flag ship airline or will we be only left with budget airlines and no BA. Yes Aer Lingus is a budget airline but thanks to Mr Walsh and the Irish Unions it still exists and flys
TBH at this pt I can only hope BA can survive even in the same capacity as Aer Lingus

whifflegarden and beanpot welcome to the club

OSTG I am left agape at your comments about pilots wives ganging up against cabin crew. It was a joke on my part saying it would be nice to get to know spouses of other BA employees because with DH's job you don't really mix with fellow employees families much. I see humour is beyond you, so I will spell it out nicely, we the wives of BA employees are not resentful that pilots spend nights away with you, just fearful for the future of the company that you and your (far from conciliatory)union seem hell bent on destroying because you are too lazy and too stubborn to pull your weight in hard times.

You may also have noticed that there are a number of posters on here who disagree with your strike, and it's not because they think you are sleeping with my or anyone else's husband.

I was in T5 yesterday and it is far from a ghost town, passenger and volunteer spirits were high and there was a bustle of travelers arriving and departing. That "Ghost town" comment was reported on Saturday morning when BA didn't really know what was going to happen.

A colleague of DH has been harassed in the playground of his daughter's primary school because a CSD discovered his name was on a list circulated about volunteers. That is the level that you people sink to and I think it is pretty grim.

Onestonetogo as long as you had a nice day out on the picket line that's all that matters.........

beanpot wasn't dh was another pilot. It is quite grim.

I was fairly ambivalent about the strike - must have a good reason etc.

After reading OSTG's comments don't think I'll fly BA again if that's her attitude to passengers and her insinuations about the pilots' wives being jealous is just plain nasty. Virgin is much better anyway.

gah is should be are

soupmaker your point about the fact that the world would be a much nicer place if we could all just not consume as much is perfectly valid. In my line of work I spend a lot of time trying to persuade people to do just that.

However, the fact remains that if there isn't sufficient money coming into a company, there isn't enough money to pay its employees.

This is a simple fact and is totally unaffected by the idea that it would be nice not to consume so much.

I can assure you that many, many managers in companies are extremely concerned about those people who work for them. In my company I had to lay off 2 people at the end of 2008, and put the rest of the staff on a 4 day week for a few months, just to survive. I came home every night and cried.

Was it the right thing to do? Yes. Did everyone agree? Yes. 100% agreement. Every Single Person. If I'd had them say, "no, I'm going to go on strike instead" they'd just not have a job now as the company would have closed.

I've now had them back on full time since April last year, and have re-employed two people. That's thanks to their support through the tough times.

Now, if the market had just changed entirely and there was no chance that I could ever have put them back onto 5 days, and their jobs would have changed for good, I would have totally understood if they'd left to work somewhere else. But, again, if they'd just stropped about it and gone on strike, we'd have all been skuppered. I could have filled the jobs again, but would have been pretty upset about it.

At all stages, it was their choice.

Did the company struggle because of bad management? Maybe. Maybe it was nothing to do with the world economy. Maybe it was all my fault. Maybe BA is full of idiots who can't manage their way out of a paper bag, or maybe the industry has totally changed beyond all recognition and the company therefore has to change as well. Who knows...

But I can assure you that while "The Management" avec black suits and shades may be asking "workers" to change, they're not doing so without care and thought. And even if they were, it doesn't change the simple fact that the company, which is made up of ALL its staff, needs to change to survive and "the workers" need to understand this.

laughing at the thought of me knitting laughing even harder at the thought of DH knocking off one of the hosties - I dont think he could afford their shopping habits!

My DH is far from spiteful about the cc, he is worried about the fate of BA and horrified that a small minority of staff could be so vindictive about their colleagues. All he wants is a happy working relationship with the folk on the other side of the flight deck door (he is dreadfully mildmannered - not like me!)

"Nasty Tory"
"Ignorant Leftie"

Silver1 - That is terrible - being harrassed outside of work like that (or when in work), unfortunately I know exactly what you mean though.

'the pilot wives knitting club' and associatd comments - how disrespectful.

We don't currently live in the UK and there is minimal coverage of the strike/issues, but what there is basically portrays, probably quite accurately, a situation where there is a group of childish sheep who have no concept of reality in tough economic times. Certainly little support for the cause here.

Pinkcheesy it sounds like your DH and mine are very similar. He is sometimes quite shocked by what he hears from CC but he does his best not to let a few tarnish his view of the many- it also sounds like you are probably a lot like me.

Tummytime please don't give up on BA just yet-who knows what the cabin crew will be like in six months time.

Capter33 it sounds like your news coverage is very accurate.

The threat of action from unions abroad in support of UNITE fizzled away, suggesting like most of the union talk it was just hot air.

I think they will Beanpot there is even more for BASSA to lose face over now.

They talked today about reinstating staff travel for strikers.
They talked about "negotiating" a settlement that is better than the one Willie Walsh presented on Thursday/Friday of last week.

I don't think the non strike days are going to be easy for anyone in the company, and then I think next week-end will be a re-run of this week-end just gone. I can see it limping on for a while.

OSTG did you consider the OP's little boy when you had such a good time on the picket line today?

I don't think that he had so much fun. What a thoughtless and unkind comment.

OSTG I'm afraid your posts are getting more and more Toxic... remember Britney's video ....

audition.seitoukai.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/brit2.jpeg

Well thanks to all the BA staff that volunteered today DS left for his trip, on a rescheduled, but not delayed flight.And the flight was contracted out to a charter company.

Our trip is now full steam ahead as we had taken the decision not to book with BA due to the threat of strike action.

As DS is returning to Gatwick on saturday, we are pretty hopeful that that will all go smoothly

Sorry to say Onestone et al despite all of the examples you have given about your grievances, and the reasons behind this very devisive action, I don't think it will have been worth it in any shape or form.

It would appear that the action has alienated your customer base, both commercial and consumer and has caused a deep wound between work colleagues
Finally it will be along time before confidence is restored in the BA brand

How very sad.