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?

OP - YANBU and I am glad your DS was able to go on his trip. Afrer two weeks of nail biting, we were relieved to hear this afternoon that our DSs school trip on Saturday will go ahead as thy are expecting full turnout @ Gatwick. Was the school's travel agency that booked them BA originally - my heart sank at the time because the threat of this has been rumbling for ages. I and most people I have spoken to certainly won't risk booking BA while they are still in existence and at the mercy of Unite.

MrsGuy - that will only be a matter of weeks , Unite know their number's up and are only persisting in this for the same reason overtired and grumpy kids persist in not going to bed, ie, who knows why

Buzzybb I'm not sure which particular crash you're talking about, and I'm not sure whether a pilot who's been in a crash "won't work on the flight deck of a commercial airline ever again". You'll find that all crew involved AND pilots do get time off if they were traumatised by the experienced, and they all get offered counselling, and yes, I'm sure the crew have a job to go back to (I don't see why not?).

Pinkycheesy, of course pilot training is crucial, and it is important that they should be paid well (which they are)! I just think it's a bit rich of you to come and tell me that it's acceptable that my £900 a month should go down by 40% permanently without me having the right to strike about it.

Btw if your DH happens to fly with other pilots married to cc, he'll see they have a completely different opinion on the matter, as they see it from the cc's point of view as well. And I pretty much guarantee you they wouldn't be strike breakers.

alibubbles
BA pilots do sim checks and air checks frequently- that are assessed as
Pass (this meets CAA standards and too many at this level and you could lose your job)
BA standard and
Exceed.

DH has quite a few exceeds but the truth is BA pilots strive to reach exceed rather than BA standard. It's a shame cabin crew aren't assessed in the same way.

I hope the airline survives, the union breaks and the service regains it's prestigious reputation.

Hmm ostg yet again WRONG- A lot of captains DH flies with are married to, sleeping with-dating cabin crew, they are all volunteering and the cc are all working.

OSTG I never said support was not given but it is easier for CC to fly again Not sure with BA and or their policy but I know 2 pilots who fly in Eastern Europe both a near misses and on being declared fit to work both were sent by company for reevaluation [again standard practice] both failed and were found other work until they were left go Neither can fly and cannot afford to do some of the training they say they would need to do
Also is the BA HERO from last year [it was last year i think] who had the incident on landing is he working for BA or any other Airline as a pilot? am pretty sure he is not but willing to bet all CC are

silver1 I come from a family with a very long aviation history, at least 65 years and most of my family are in aviation today, my father spent his non flying years with CAA and NATS.
I also know many pilots who took a year off sometime ago rather than lose jobs, a few years back and many years before that. I too support all the BA pilots and hope that we don't lose or National Airline, it does always make me proud to see their tailfins at international airports.

OSTG - you keep saying about this 40% reduction in pay, but I cant work out how you will be 40% down when all that BA want to do is change some of your working conditions, they never said you had to take a paycut did they? Somehow I feel that if cc were ACTUALLY going to lose 40% of their salary every month, the press would be full of that, rather than the union constantly spouting off about how "it isnt about pay, its about conditions". So, please do tell me how you are going to be 40% worse off, I am genuinely interested to hear it.

As for the hero pilot, well, he wasnt so wonderfully treated by BA after all. Read this for a sad story.

Buxxybb there was an article in last weeks Sundays about that particular pilot, He is not flying, has had to sell his house, etc, and yes, the CC are all flying again after sick leave, counselling and everything else.

Silver, you're wrong, we do get assessed formally every 90 days. Our purser or CSD observes us troughout the trip and scores us on different aspects of our job. We also want to get as many "exceeds" as possible.

"its" prestigious reputation, not "it's".

If the Union breaks (which is Willie's aim) then I will not have a job worth keeping, but you don't care about that obviously.

And the American Hudson incident pilot is also not flying commercial A/C either tbh I would want both those guys on the flt deck in an emergency
I think it was me who said 40% reduction in my job and OSTG was replying or am I or did I miss something

Buzzybb - sorry,

alibubbes, why should cc lose their job after a crash?

From OSTG's post: "I just think it's a bit rich of you to come and tell me that it's acceptable that my £900 a month should go down by 40% permanently without me having the right to strike about it."

ostg, do you not think that you have been misled by the union? Not even the slightest...?

Obviously life is hard for you (according to your previous postings) and I do symphasize, but you would not be better off working for, say, Virgin...?

Personally I wouldn't keep working for a company who's management I resented so much.

I think that was aimed at me pinkcheesy as I had pointed out I took a 40% paycut pay freeze and company shares in lieu of to keep company afloat and was now earning about min wage and she wanted to know did I expect that of CC which of course I don't my choice

Buzzy, OSTG has mentioned 40% pay cut several times. I also don't understand why this isn't mentioned anywhere else. OSTG, could you explain about this 40% cut. genuinely want to understand. sorry for sp and punctuation again.

OSTG noone said CC crew should be fired we are saying after incidents CC will 99% of time have a job to go back to unlike pilots who if in the wrong yes need to be retrained/ fired. In the above mentioned incidents both men were cleared but are unable to work within their choosen field because they had an incident and not a fatal accident [I know reading that back it sound silly but incident = accident no fatalities, accident - causes some`all fatalities]

Ok Buzzy, so if OSTG is resorting to asking hypothetical questions about the salary of another poster, she obviously doesnt have too much going wrong in her own life . So I now have even less sympathy than I did before, let them all dig their own graves, fall in, and see how much they enjoy signing on with the other workshy people that seem to be so much in evidence today. (I am not criticising those who have lost jobs through no fault of their own; its the ones who just cant be arsed that annoy me). And I am pretty fed up with being insulted on here simply for being married to someone who wants to stay in the job he loves and keep his employer in business

Pinkycheesey the 30 to 40% lowering of our wages will happen with the introduction of a new fleet with new recruits (gap year students), who will do our job for peanuts, who wil be given the trips that to us would trigger more money (far east, for example), while we'll be left with the trips that trigger less money for us (3-day India= £60).

Buzzybub, it wasn't aimed at you specifically, but all those of you who say I shouldn't be striking.

Ok sorry Whifflegarden and pinky cheesy may have miss read some of post esp as we seem to have gone waaay off point of OP.
Iwastoearlytobeamummy I hope everyone enjoyed their trips as so glad your dc got away

ostg Why should pilots? I don't recall saying that anyone should lose their job, merely stated that the CC are flying still, unlike a highly trained pilot who I would be happy to have fly me anytime.

Incidentally, DH's flying instructor has crashed TWO planes, one infront of DH and DH still carried on learning to fly with him.

So we are clear the 30-40% loss is the potntial loss due to CC taken on on new T&C and given the routes that generate money for CC and the old staff would take shorthaul routes with less earnings

alibubbles, I wasn't the one who said about pilots losing their jobs following a crash. I'm sure the BA pilots who crash landed at Heathrow are still flying with us (and rightly so!), so am not sure that a plane crash=losing pilot's job like a poster said.

Buzzyb, the old staff wouldn't take shorthal routes, they would still operate long haul but doing the trips which pay us less allowances (India, Africa).