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Fitzhugh Fella on the news

Thedelldays

By Thedelldays,
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bridge too far

bridge too far

Posted
Posted
The fact remains that BA cabin crew are overpaid and the organisation needs to be dragged out of the hangover of it's public sector days. Willy Walsh has my upmost respect and I hope Royal Mail appoint someone similar to turn that business around when it's privatised.

 

Is this the same Royal Mail that increased its profits by 26% last year that you're talking about?

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dune

dune

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Is this the same Royal Mail that increased its profits by 26% last year that you're talking about?

 

And the same Royal Mail with a £10 billion black hole in it's pension fund. Did you mate Gordon Brown plunder this pension fund like he did so many others?

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TopGun

TopGun

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I saw FF again on the news earlier. I simply just don't get how he can defend his members when they are not underpaid and have reasonable terms of employment by most standards and the company is losing money and now customers hand over fist. As many know on this site know, I am not a right winger.

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hutch

hutch

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Posted
I spent a week in the jungle of the Ivory Coast, working on a project to try and eradicate river blindness. At the start of the trip, within 30 minutes of leaving the airport, our car was stopped by Government troops, who "asked" for $50 so that they could get a bus back to their headquarters. After a week by a river, at the end of a 5 mile dirt track, eating fish stew and being bittien by the flies we were trying to control, flying in helicopters alond the river rapids piloted by Vietnam vets who regaled me with the short life expectancy amongst the pilots who sprayed the rivers to control the fly larvae, I left for the return trip from Abidjan airport. On the way to the airport, I had plenty of time to witness a country in which human life has a price far lower than the west. Dead bodies lay by the roadside, unclaimed. Children begged for food at every traffic light, their blind elder brothers standing behind them with a hand on their shoulder. Eventually I fought past the crowds in the teeming third world airport and checked in for my flight. As I boarded the flight, I was greeted by a stewardess on the only British airline serving this hellhole. I slumped in my seat on this BA flight, already feeling like I was back in the UK and vowed, from that day on, that whenever I had a choice, I would "fly the flag".

 

Employees come and go, but I use BA and don't find, in the long run, it is more expensive and it serves more airports than any of those that concentrate on that section of the population that travels for needless pleasure.

A useful post to understand the strike. First the disclaimer. Abidjan isn't a BA destination, although it has been served by franchise operators in the past (BMed I think), but Accra, Lagos and Abuja are close by, and not very different apart from the language.

 

The issue as I see it is that the long-serving CC could not be required to go to places like that, for a couple of hundred quid spending money. That's the fate of the new recruits. The old timers got to choose Tokyo for £935 instead. Or LA. Or Mauritius. Or the Caribbean. Or Cape Town.

 

You can't blame them for trying to cling on to what they had, but in the real world the gravy train's over.

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Guided Missile

Guided Missile

Posted
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A useful post to understand the strike. First the disclaimer. Abidjan isn't a BA destination, although it has been served by franchise operators in the past (BMed I think), but Accra, Lagos and Abuja are close by, and not very different apart from the language.

I flew to Abidjan in 1988 on BA. They used to serve Abidjan back when majority of their African flights were from London Gatwick. Flights were twice weekly. (BA078/079 - DC-10 - LGW-ABJ-LGW Su/Mo)

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saintjay77

saintjay77

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I flew to Abidjan in 1988 on BA. They used to serve Abidjan back when majority of their African flights were from London Gatwick. Flights were twice weekly. (BA078/079 - DC-10 - LGW-ABJ-LGW Su/Mo)

 

you dont half remember some sht GM lol

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OLYMPIC

OLYMPIC

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Posted
I hear that we are all going to treat the Camerons to a new kitchen.

 

How nice for them.

 

This would be a kitchen that falls within his budget allowance for the property,and he has already said that if it went over budget he would pay for it himself.

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Guided Missile

Guided Missile

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you dont half remember some sht GM lol

I just remembered that BA had merged with British Caledonian a year before I took the flight and had taken on their routes. For those aviation anoraks out there that are interested, their old route map is here and shows how low the industry has gone, since sh 1t airlines like Easyjet and Ryanair have brought flying to the British underclass...

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Patrick Bateman

Patrick Bateman

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I just remembered that BA had merged with British Caledonian a year before I took the flight and had taken on their routes. For those aviation anoraks out there that are interested, their old route map is here and shows how low the industry has gone, since sh 1t airlines like Easyjet and Ryanair have brought flying to the British underclass...

 

I always wondered what happened to British Caledonian (weirdly enough)! When I was younger, I used to go with my Grandad to Gatwick and you could enter the terminal and go outside, on the roof to watch the planes take off and land and listen to the radio transmissions.

 

Sad now, that you can't do that and you can't even see the runways any more. They were good days ... times change ...

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saint1977

saint1977

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The fact remains that BA cabin crew are overpaid and the organisation needs to be dragged out of the hangover of it's public sector days. Willy Walsh has my upmost respect and I hope Royal Mail appoint someone similar to turn that business around when it's privatised.

 

Whilst I really don't agree with this particular strike by Unite which I feel is counter-productive all-round, for company, customers like you and I, and staff, you cannot be serious re: Walsh. You are joking surely? This is the big gobbed incompetent that brought us the Terminal 5 debacle and has made a pig's ear of running BA. I re-state that I don't agree with Unite but Walsh's resignation would at least give the company hope of survival and a new CEO that has the wit to prosper in a complex environment rather than a 1980s relic.

 

Adam Crozier might be a bit slimy but he is Aston Villa or Tottenham as CEOs go to Walsh's Bognor Regis Town.

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buctootim

buctootim

Posted
Posted
Whilst I really don't agree with this particular strike by Unite which I feel is counter-productive all-round, for company, customers like you and I, and staff, you cannot be serious re: Walsh. You are joking surely? This is the big gobbed incompetent that brought us the Terminal 5 debacle and has made a pig's ear of running BA. I re-state that I don't agree with Unite but Walsh's resignation would at least give the company hope of survival and a new CEO that has the wit to prosper in a complex environment rather than a 1980s relic.

 

Adam Crozier might be a bit slimy but he is Aston Villa or Tottenham as CEOs go to Walsh's Bognor Regis Town.

 

I dont see the problem with Walsh. He has been a pilot, union negotiator and CEO of an airline (Aer Lingus) which had all the problems of BA. He took over a slowly sinking airline which was heading directly into the worst recession for a generation. The fact he hasnt insulated them from all the fallout doesnt mean he isnt competent.

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saintjay77

saintjay77

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Posted
Whilst I really don't agree with this particular strike by Unite which I feel is counter-productive all-round, for company, customers like you and I, and staff, you cannot be serious re: Walsh. You are joking surely? This is the big gobbed incompetent that brought us the Terminal 5 debacle and has made a pig's ear of running BA. I re-state that I don't agree with Unite but Walsh's resignation would at least give the company hope of survival and a new CEO that has the wit to prosper in a complex environment rather than a 1980s relic.

 

Adam Crozier might be a bit slimy but he is Aston Villa or Tottenham as CEOs go to Walsh's Bognor Regis Town.

 

Wether or not the strike is wright or not I think Walsh's part in it has not helped the matters at all.

 

The many problems or spin that keep getting brought up usually have either Unite or Walsh as the core components.

 

If both of those were out of the picture and replaced with A N Other would there be so many problems?

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Redondo Saint

Redondo Saint

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Posted
Wether or not the strike is wright or not I think Walsh's part in it has not helped the matters at all.

 

The many problems or spin that keep getting brought up usually have either Unite or Walsh as the core components.

 

If both of those were out of the picture and replaced with A N Other would there be so many problems?

 

Yes, I think there would be the same problems.

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derry

derry

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Posted

Alternatively the sponsored pilot that led the pilot's strike that nearly broke Aer Lingus. Doesn't anybody wonder why he was brought in.

 

The pilot's have been smart enough to play for time and await the right circumstances. They realise aviation is cyclic and the opportunity will arise to claw back the downcycle concessions. It has been ever thus.

 

On an anecdotal note. On the approach at Lagos and cleared down to an intermediate level Atc went off the air. Call to BA Company who went up to the tower with a wad of cash, who then cleared us to land.

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saint1977

saint1977

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... and Tony Woodley is very Hayling Utd FC (being further down in the leagues than Bognor ;))

 

Ha Ha, fair play JB. I don't think Woodley has been particularly constructive either and all of this hurts his members even more than it hurts Walsh. It's about time the megaphones went down and some serious talking took place. At this rate, there won't be a company to fight over. Perhaps if Woodley and Walsh took more of a back-seat role in negotiations the heat may cool and the real issues take precedence? It might also calm the tabloid feeding frenzy.

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surrey1saint

surrey1saint

Posted
Posted
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10196394.stm

 

ffs, someone needs to put a collar and lead on this lot..

they are going to bring down the whole company at this rate..

 

in a way, that will b e good then see what "perks" they get at the job centre

 

If they keep these strikes up the company will go down IMO...Can't understand the union's They are short sighted in the extreme.

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