“Despite the ballot results, I wonder how many staff will actually strike. Of BA’s 13,500 cabin crew, 7,500 voted to strike. Around 1,500 commute to work by air from Europe and around Britain.
BA has said any staff who strike will lose their travel concessions permanently, making commuting very costly, and to most probably unaffordable. And for the non-commuters, those cheap holidays in Barbados will be gone for ever.”
… letter to The Telegraph from John Ratcliffe, Aberdeen
Will British Airways Staff really go through with it?
Management seems to be making a point and so is the union. In the middle will be Barbados and every other tourist destination serviced by British Airways. It has been a rough decade for Bajan tourism starting with 9/11, then continuing with the economic slide and some very expensive mistakes like Cricket World Cup and the unrewarded spending of millions upon millions to tap into the US market. Couple that with the cruise lines that are squeezing the life out of every supplier and now another British Airways strike in the works.
And it doesn’t matter what you do on this rock, it’s all connected with the tourists in one way or another. You might think that you sell plumbing fixtures for a living but the truth is – you work for the tourists as much as the people behind the desk at the Hilton.
Folks: save your money and look after your family and friends, because something tells me it’s not getting a whole lot better anytime soon.
Barbados Free Press 
from what I’ve read the BA staff are the most overpaid of all airline staff, almost double what Virgin pays their staff with far more benefits, they are also the largest number with more staff per plane than other planes. That said my experience on BA was no better. I’m more concerned with the new tax they’re imposing on international flights from the UK.
Nice post, and I tend to agree. I think people need to understand that everyone is in a recession, and most people are taking some form of a paycut/cut back. To add, the media seem to have dodged the whole story that the average salary that BA staff get paid doesn’t seem to be a true reflection across the board. Maybe because it’s not as “controversial” as the average figure. From speaking with a friend of mine who works there I believe the figure is somewhat thwarted by some long standing higher paid staff. I’ve written a short piece (and slightly speculative in parts!) on it myself if you’re interested: http://karmagarda.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/ba-banana-airways/