The result of the British Airways pilots vote on industrial action is not looking good ….

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A quick extra article today to share this bit of news.

There is currently a wave of industrial unrest brewing at British Airways. This is being driven by the strong financial performance of the business, which is not being reflected in pay or bonuses.

A number of votes are underway across the various unions involved. BALPA, the British Airline Pilots Association, has just released the results of its ballot and it is not pretty:

Balpa supporting industrial action

Question 1:

Do you accept BA’s revised pay offer?

Yes – 1%

No – 99%

Question 2:

If we cannot secure an acceptable offer through negotation, do you wish BALPA to conduct an official ballot for industrial action, including strike action?

Yes – 96%

No – 4%

Turnout was 89% which is very high as these things go.

According to the last set of figures I could find, BALPA represents about 90% of BA pilots so any industrial action will effectively ground the airline.

British Airways put out this statement in response:

We continue open discussions with our trade unions. Our pay proposal is fair, reasonable and reflects typical pay awards given by other companies in the UK.

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British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

DK says:

12 Mar12 March 00:07

And that’s one of the reasons I don’t own airline stock.

What other industries tolerate this?

And If the employees feel like they should be part of the success of their company they should buy IAG shares.
- Andye says:
  
  12 Mar12 March 01:37
  
  For those on moderate incomes, investing in ones employer is the opposite of diversification. If the employer goes belly-up, you lose your job and your savings
  - Crafty says:
    
    12 Mar12 March 03:02
    
    Yes exactly. From personal experience last year – redundancy without notice or pay, and simultaneous loss of many shares – I’d recommend against any such investment unless you get “free” shares (which some of mine were to be fair).
Steve says:

12 Mar12 March 06:42

So anyone thought up the best combo of Bremont accessories to buy?

Liking the pocket wallet and the watch roll so far, I can put those to good use. Add a pair of cufflinks and I think I’d be happy with that lot for £100
- James says:
  
  12 Mar12 March 10:04
  
  I wonder if they’ll wait until after the 16/6 to charge the card. Offer seems a bit too generous.
  Mind you, if no one is buying their accessories this is at least a way of shifting stock for some level of income, albeit 20%.
BJ says:

12 Mar12 March 06:53

I see this differently, BA is making this much money from the high fares it charges courtesy of its dominance at LHR and ludicrous fees such as YQ and seat selection. Much of this money should be returned to passengers in the shape of lower fares. Current sale is a perfect example, even on sale BA are £hundreds more expensive than than say regular fares on KLM or Finnair. As far as BA staff are concerned, I think it should be disproportionately shared by those earning leads than average annual earnings as opposed to those at the top end.
- James says:
  
  12 Mar12 March 10:00
  
  Yep.
Lee says:

12 Mar12 March 07:06

No Bremont on any of our cards.
ChrisC says:

12 Mar12 March 08:56

Remember that the second question asked was if we don’t get a better offer should we have another ballot on industrial action

So there will be another ballot – complying with all the relevant statutory rules – before any sort of action – which would likely start with a work to rule before strike action.

So before people start to panic any form of action is still a while away. And if there is there will be plenty of notice.
yorkieflyer says:

12 Mar12 March 09:11

I wonder whether the ballot includes Cityflyer?
James says:

12 Mar12 March 09:59

Shame there aren’t more Bremont accessory options.
- James says:
  
  12 Mar12 March 10:00
  
  The offer is on my Plat.
Lucas says:

12 Mar12 March 10:20

What about engineering, ground staff and other departments.. this is bigger than pilots..

The company is not looking after its staff!!!!
- Rob says:
  
  12 Mar12 March 10:26
  
  Pilots are more of a crunch issue. Cabin crew are split across various unions and, with judicious scheduling and paying overtime to get people right to the edge of their legal hours, BA can minimise the impact of a strike. It has done this before.
  
  If 90% of your pilots walk out, you’re stuffed. You also need to remember the complications of scheduling – even if a pilot who is not on strike takes a long-haul aircraft outbound, he can’t fly it back for a couple of days so you also need non-striking crew downroute.