Unions will destroy British Airways

British Airways are fighting for survival, to survive they need to adapt and stay competitive. BA’s biggest asset is the brand; which has taken a battering in recent years such as the Terminal 5 fiasco, strikes, and more strikes. With each new strike the brand is damaged further, with news reports of cancelled honey moon’s and travel chaos effecting 10,000′s of passengers, who in their right mind would book a flight with BA knowing there could be further strikes in the coming months?

So why are BA cabin crew striking?

According to the official site of the Unite Union they are striking because they believe BA’s new ‘contractual changes are an attempt to force staff to pay the price for management failings with the company wringing more and more out of fewer and fewer staff who will be paid less.’

They also go on to say ‘ Working hours will be extended, crew levels will be slashed, career opportunities will disappear and new starters will be brought in on bargain basement wages. Unite says this will inevitably damage customer service and hit the brand, possibly leaving it beyond repair.”

Seems the socialist at unite have at least heard of brand reputation, and wrongly believe that paying staff the going rate will harm the brand more than striking. Must be nice to earn a living from paying members and not have real job in the commercial world.

So how badly are BA staff paid? BBC states the BA’s 14,000 cabin crew are well-paid in industry terms, according to a recent survey for the Civil Aviation Authority, which suggested they earn twice as much as rivals on Virgin Atlantic. The average pay for a BA crew member is put at £29,900 a year, including bonuses and allowances, compared with just £14,400 at Virgin Atlantic. Yet Virgin constantly score better on customer service than BA.

In my opinion the Unite Union, is going to harm BA more than any staffing changes could ever do. In years to come it’s members will be jobless or working for competitors on a fraction of the pay they now enjoy and blaming the management of BA for ruining the company. Unions are great at protecting workers rights but this seems more like extortion!!