-
Posts
-
Whats your take on this? for me I think that deciding to strike at Christmas is of course the biggest blackmail threat they can give to BA , however, on the other side of the coin, I personally dont know of many people who fly at christmas anywhere without maybe having saved all year, or indeed for more than a year, mums,dads,kids etc usually fly at christmas to be with family, plans may have taken many months to put into action, and now? all for nothing if the strike goes ahead.
Or, does your sympathy lie with the cabin crew?
This strike – carefully, and indeed cynically, timed for Christmas and to cause the maximum disruption to all of BA’s dwindling band of customers – is a classic example of the street thug who beats you up, puts you in hospital, and then claims that it was all your fault for being on the street in the first place.
Given that BA is currently making a loss of hundreds of millions and its pension fund is in deficit by over £3.7 BILLION – and given that this strike will cost them millions more on top, leading to an increased loss over and above that which is currently predicted ……. I see only one sensible way forward.
The Board of BA should immediately call a Section 97 meeting of its creditors and put the company into creditors voluntary liquidation. This has a number of advantages.
It would fuck the Unite union once and for all; the overpaid and frankly ‘greedy’ staff would be out of a job (and serves them jolly well right too); the airline could release itself from its debt burden and start over as, say, BA (2010) plc; a new and maybe more competent Board odf directors could be appointed.
Maybe the airline could make a fresh beginning with a substantially reduced cost base instead of acting like a ‘dead person walking’. After all if is continues to pile loss upon loss – ultimately liquidation, followed by re-construction, will be its only course of action.
What else do staff at any job do ? Just let the company roll over them ?
@pete wrote:
What else do staff at any job do ? Just let the company roll over them ?
of course not Pete, but BA is in trouble, its making very large losses and has presented the workforce with the very real job losses and cut in staff. The guys at the head of the company have one job to do and thats to make the company work, of course its no joke losing your job but, there are always natural surpluses in staff with voluntary redundancies and early retirements to be had, however, it seems to me that the staff have been told whats going on , exactly how many losses and extra work to do, i heard this morning also that the average cabin crew worker on BA gets c£29,000 pa in comparison to the average wage on virgin and easy jet of around £14,000 pa.
we are in a recession and whilst i dont condone gun ho staff cutting , sometimes it has to be done , and yes i have been at the raw end of a company doing this, of course its upsetting and can be soul destroying but at the end the day if i had to lose my job so a man or a woman with a young family can keep theres then so be it, taking this sort of action hurts the ordinary person in the street more as well as the bosses of the companies, all I am saying is the company havent just gone eeny meeny miny mo to find ways of recouping losses the people that are being paid to do their jobs at the top are doing just that.
As far as BA are concerned lets face it with companies like virgin and easy jet amongst others, I would imagine if they dont do something the whole lot will fold anyways.. they will be the losers in the end as passengers will lose faith in them and not fly with them if there is any alternative etc etc
of course there are companies that walk all over their workforce and I do beleive that unions are a necessity to bring it all together, however in my case i found the bluddy union more of a hinderance than anything.
all that said i would be interested in knowing if the bosses have taken a wage freeze too?
I’m not saying they should strike, I’m questioning the true reason for the job cuts and other measures If they’re really in that much trouble then i cant see the problem with reducing staff by natural wastage and voluntary redundancy but then why would people strike if that was the case.
I’m just wondering what the true story isI think, Pete, that BA have managed to turn a reasonable profit into a stonking great loss over a period of 18 months or so. This is what is causing the current issue.
Several reasons, but heavy competition from the ‘no frills’ airlines; a collapse of business travel (we hate bankers etc don’t we?); increasingly high “green” taxes imposed by Governement to ‘save he world’; an un-responsive and highly unionised overpaid workforce – and far too many of them as well …… these are some of the more obvious reasons.
So pay the cabin crew two or three times the industry ‘norm’. They”d better save it up because they’ll need it when their current employer goes under.
dnt think we can have a propa debate without hearing both sides and not just the financial side of BA , my moneys on thers more to it than meets the eye (having been there may times there usually is ) aint that right pete.
i very much doubt unite would bring them out if it was as simple and clear cut as it seams , this is the tip of the ice berg to mass industrial action and unrest in all industries in 2010Pete, you can downsize staff by ‘natural wastage’ and voluntary redundancy, but this generally takes quite a long time. Also, in the depths of a recession, few people will seek ‘voluntary’ redundancy as the chances of employment elsewhere are remote.
I’ve been at the decision making end of this process and I can tell you it really isn’t easy. However, you get to a stage in a business cycle where you either have to shrink the business in order for it to continue ….. or …. you opt to keep on going until the ‘cash’ runs out. Taking the former choice means that a proportion of your staff have to go. taking the latter choice means that they all go eventually.
aye but.. where does it all end. ? is this the same B.A management that told the workers thy had to take 3 week out of every 4 wages, leaving the 4th week to support the company. ? Ok they seem well paid, but contracts were signed long beofre Thatcher and Privatisation.
can you imagine the scenario.. “hey pal, wife wants a new Fur coat, so we cannot pay ye this week”..
“hey single parent relying on tax credits.. “ah we overspent at the casino last week,, can ye claim Income supoort or we will sack ya”..
If Unite do not truly UNITE. there are always scabs.. but let us not set a scenario for years to come ? please. !If we tolerate this, then our children will be next !
here here sister!!!!!
Get involved in this discussion! Log in or register now to have your say!