Thursday 29 July 2010

Why?

I ask myself this question a lot, Why??

Why is it i appear as the life a soul of the party but put me alone somewhere and i sob uncontrollably, maybe i have a fear of being unable to show my emotions openly, or don't like people to see me upset as i hate all the, cuddles, rubs, conversations, and remarks like " don't worry it will be fine".

I always say the time you cannot bare to listen to Radio one, and you switch to Radio 2 you are getting older, i love smooth radio, magic fm or radio 2, other stations play music now which i have no idea what it is.

Today was an embarrassing day, i went to the Apple Store in New York for an I-pad as much cheaper than in uk and all i needed was a travel adaptor so convert the voltage when at home. I got to the check out and my boxed i-pad and cover was placed in front of me, the bankers card was however declined after two attempts, i stayed at the check out and called th bank number on reverse of the card, after entering card numbers, asked questions like mothers maiden name, date of birth, address, postcode, i failed to name a Direct debit amount and date that it comes out of my account so the Nice Indian man in some call centre in Bombay cancelled my card so i can now buy nothing and need to go home to my branch with two forms of I.D. so the card can be reactivated, such a pain in the arse as i was only spending just over £300, you would think i was spending thousands.
The cashier in apple store did say it happens a lot as when someone steals a card their first port of call is the Apple Store so everyone around was looking at me like some credit card fraudster!!

I got out of their, one half of me was embarrassed and upset the other was angry,i will now try the apple store in Arizona next week, that will confuse Barclays.

Tuesday 27 July 2010

BA the truth!!! ( as copied pasted from a newspaper read my millions)

Without its staff, BA is nothing extraordinaryCompared with our biggest competitors, BA cabin crews are not well-paid. Money wasted in disputes could have gone to us

I've been a BA cabin crew member for 21 years. BA has consistently stated that its costs are so high that it cannot keep paying such inflated wages and benefits and still make a profit. Indeed, it says cabin crew's remuneration needs to be cut to the market rate of other UK competitors, plus an additional 10%.

In the war of attrition against us, our CEO published blatantly inaccurate figures about our salaries on the company website to support this argument. The figures bore no relation to reality, but I found myself having to justify my salary at every party, during every flight and in every conversation. People believe what they read, so I decided to investigate.

Just like the untruth that "very few cabin crew went on strike" according to Willie Walsh, when it has now been confirmed over that 70% took industrial action, the published cabin crew salaries present a gross inaccuracy.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) reveals the true figures. BA cabin crew are already the lowest paid personnel within the company. The average salary cost for pilots is £107,600. Cabin crew costs are 72% lower. The average maintenance and overhaul personnel salary cost is £39,800. Cabin crew costs are 25% lower. The average ticketing and sales personnel salary cost is £34,600. Cabin crew are 13% lower. And, the salary costs for pilot is some 40% higher than the average market rate of UK pilots.

The company compares our salaries with Virgin, easyJet and other UK carriers. But on every internal training course I have ever done, BA make it clear we are a global, full service, premium airline.

Comparing our salaries with our biggest competitors, namely, Singapore and Emirates, BA's proposal for the "new fleet" salaries of £11,000 basic plus £2.40 an hour is not an attractive one. By contrast, Singapore pay £20,792 (not including the annual supplement of one month's salary or the profit share), flight pay and health and pension packages

CAA reports also show that BA cabin crew expenditure has been dropping since 2006 while easyJet and Virgin salaries have increased. For example, from 2006 to 2008, BA salary costs have fallen from £24,709 to £23,654, while easyJet's have risen from £20,818 to £28,998.

Virgin also offer more favourable staff travel perks – 10 free tickets per year for any friend as against BA's one after eight years and two after 20 years for two nominees. BA's pensionable pay is on basic pay only. After some 30 years of service, many staff will retire on less than £12,000 per year.

Between 2006 and 2008, BA passenger revenue increased, with 2008 being BA's most profitable year ever. Yet, according to Walsh, in June 2009 company cash reserves were so low that he asked staff to work for nothing.

One year on, the BA board has awarded itself a remuneration package of £14m (for 11 members) and wasted £1.4bn on facing down strikes rather than reaching a negotiated settlement.

BA charges the most expensive prices in Britain, yet regards its cabin crew as instantly replaceable without it affecting the quality of the brand. The standard of recruits will drop, staff morale will be low but the ticket price will remain high. Customers and shareholders will suffer the most in the end, as there will be nothing to differentiate BA from any other airline

Monday 19 July 2010

Work

Another flight loomed and i checked in, 11 strangers met in the briefing room for the BA193 to Dallas, 3 hours later on the flight i was to find out that there were only three strikers on the trip and 8 scabs.....it is like throwing deer in a compound with lions for nine hours and ask them to get along, it is not going to happen, we bite our lips, hold our tongues, say nothing in case the intimidation card is dealt. At one point a heated discussion had to be stopped as two strikers were not agreeing with two non strikers and visa versa.
However, i did my job as i am supposed too, passengers were all happy, we operated with the new First Class cabin which is really "sharp".

Flight crew/cabin crew relations were strained, no first class food was offered, they received crew food and deli paper cups, usually china! This was not my doing but the decision of the Psr.

I am now in my hotel room, after yet another cry, i am alone, locked in and safe, i have no one at home to discuss this with, or should i say no one who knows how to make me feel better.

I was asked today by a total stranger that after 25 years do you still love your partner, my honest answer was "yes i do!", my life would be very empty after 25 years with the same person, no one is perfect and he is all but perfect but i love him for who and what he is and nothing else.

Well i will sign off now after another rant and hopefully things will improve in the future, i still love my job but current situations are making the job very difficult, we need this sorting, we need BA back and we all need to return to the jobs we are paid to do and settle back into normality.

This is something i pray for each day!

Thursday 15 July 2010

Difficult life!!

I always seem to go through a great period in life then all the troubles of the world seem to pile up on my shoulders at the same time making me powerless and weak!
First off Megan the dog started to have chronic diarrhoea on Sunday, she had a reprieve on Wednesday, then Thursday seems to have her all loose again, i will see how she is once i get home and maybe a trip to the vets is in order.
Then on this trip only 3 out of 11 crew were on strike and the 8 scabs are all spread all over the different cabins so there is no escape, even the CSD is a scab, the atmopshere is not good and the tension is mounting, i try and get on with my job and try and bite my lip, not an easy thing for me to do.
Then i heard the letters have arrived at our homes for those who have to do Standby at Christmas, i text home with no reply so that is telling me i am one of the chosen ones, i loathe working Christmas as when your parents get older these are cherished times in the calendar and to be away from them is not easy, i have always vowed i will lock myself in a hotel room and speak or socialise with no one. if i cannot have Christmas at home i refuse to enjoy it with a bunch of strangers or possibly even scabs!!
I am in Muscat now typing this, Oman is hot, 46 degrees outside, we fly to Abu Dhabi from here, a 30-40 minute flight then stay on ground for an hour, load more passengers then fly to London Heathrow which will take about 7 hours landing at 0620 in the morning so should be home by 0800.
Just had my 2125 ( local) wake up call so will have to go now and get the eau de boeing uniform on ready for the longhaul home, just two days off then Dallas, which i have applied for unpaid leave to avoid but not heard anything yet.
Nite nite folks!!

Tuesday 13 July 2010

Health

I have managed to get my Blood Glucos levels down to 7.7, they still should be between 3 and 6 but better than 16.5 that i was faced with only months ago.
Now my cholesterol is too high and i have to take a simvistatin tablet at bedtime to control that and my diabetes medication is 3 a day now instead of 2.
I think once you hit 45 life is a downhill struggle with illness,the body seems to be fighting years of abuse, stress and everyday problems that affect us.
Such a shame that i have to now deal with this for the rest of my life.
If the people who's behaviour only knew they were the cause!!!

Sunday 4 July 2010

What is really happening within BA ( copied / pasted from a newspaper read by millions)

Fear and loathing at British AirwaysWe BA workers caught up in the middle of the dispute are a weary and embittered army who just wants peace
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BA Manager guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 June 2010 10.00 BST Article history
'As the backlog of work grows, so does the disillusion we feel for our leadership team and Willie Walsh.' Photograph: Stephen Simpson/Rex Features

Anyone walking into the reception area of Waterside (British Airways's head office at Heathrow) cannot help but notice the poster that hangs in front of the security barriers; a poster that implores staff to "Back BA". The building is awash with such posters: hanging in front of the "pavement cafe" (a popular meeting place for staff) is a banner spanning the width of the "street", the message is the same: "Back BA."

Look closely at the staff and you will see that their BA identity passes swing proudly from lanyards that declare "I am backing BA". The wall where staff were invited to post their views of the dispute and the cabin crew may have long since been removed, but its presence looms large.

The views of many within BA, so clearly depicted on BA's "wall of shame", are that the cabin crew are a cosseted, precious and overpaid workforce. When faced with such a damning condemnation of a group of individuals, it is not difficult to see why BA was so confident in its assumption that its staff could be persuaded to "back BA" and to fly as voluntary cabin crew.

Couple this with the widely held belief that Bassa (the cabin crew branch of Unite) is a group of unyielding and intransigent militants who have held a gun to BA's head for more years than anyone cares to remember, and it is not difficult to see why so many staff are happy to back BA.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of staff have been released from their day jobs to train as cabin crew, and continue to be released as we brace ourselves for the next round of strikes that could happen towards the end of the summer. But the day job doesn't go away – the emails keep coming, our people still need to be managed, there are disciplinary and grievances hearings that we need to hear, attendance management issues that have to be addressed. As the backlog of work grows, so does the disillusion we feel for our leadership team, board of directors, chairman and CEO, Willie Walsh.

Scratch below the surface and you will find that, while many proclaim to back BA, the reality is that many managers and staff of all levels are growing increasingly resentful of senior management and the chief executive. Anyone who has attended his management briefings cannot help but liken the situation to a leader who is losing the war but will never surrender. We are a weary and embittered army who just wants peace.

To question the direction that Walsh is taking this company is seen as heresy, so everyone continues on, worn down by a dispute that is the most acrimonious in BA's history; a dispute that an increasing number of managers believe should have been settled months ago.

We all keep our counsel, choosing to voice our concerns to only our most trusted colleagues, believing that this dispute is not just about cost savings but rather the destruction of Bassa and its mother union, Unite. Like the cabin crew, those of us who do not condone this management style are fearful of our positions within the company

We attend the briefings held by Walsh in the Waterside theatre, we read the propaganda that is sent to us daily and we ask ourselves "why didn't I have the foresight to take the voluntary severance when it was offered".

Those managers who have not chosen to volunteer as cabin crew find themselves under-resourced, overworked and despairing of a dispute that has become BA's primary focus. To voice concern is inconceivable; those who have dared speak out are viewed with suspicion and colleagues are quick to distance themselves from them, fearful of being tainted by association. The culture of fear is all-pervading; staff are suspicious of their co-workers, of those they report into, and of those that they once thought of as friends.

What is most frightening is the ignorance within the management team as to what actually lies behind this dispute. As a manager who can count their years of service with BA in decades rather than years, who has witnessed numerous disputes within BA, believe me when I say that the ramifications of this dispute will be felt for years, even decades into the future.

BA will struggle to weather the fallout from this bitter dispute. Our brand, our reputation and our integrity as an employer have all been damaged – indeed continue to be damaged – as this dispute rolls on with no sign of a resolution or closure. The road ahead will be fraught with challenges – challenges that we will all have to deal with. It will be an uphill struggle and it will not be easy.

Those BA staff who have chosen to volunteer as cabin crew have unwittingly prolonged this dispute and, in all probability, hastened their own demise. Their actions have allowed BA to keep flying rather than to reach a negotiated settlement.

As Unite prepares for another ballot and, in all probability, more industrial action, many managers are trawling through employment websites, desperate to find anything that will enable them to leave the bedlam that is now BA.

For anyone who really wants to understand what it is like to work for the world's favourite airline, I would suggest reading George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

I just wonder why the posters in Waterside don't read "war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength". Take care, BA employees and BA shareholders, the end is just the beginning.

Saturday 3 July 2010

Standby for flights

being on ten days of standby, three days of 2 hr call out and then days of 24 hours it is very difficult to organise your life from silly things like hair appointments and hospital visits.
Day one i started at 1500 until 2300, i had my shower and uniform was all ready to throw on and dash out the door by 1400 but i was not used and had to go through it all again from 1100-1900 the next day, guess what...not used again.
Day three was more complicated it was 0700-1500, now, do i get up at 0600 and have a shower so ready to dash out or do i stay in bed and hope the phone does not ring too early...yep, i got it wrong...0710 ring ring ring ring......" hello it is the standby desk, we have a trip for you, checking in 0950 for Lagos Nigeria" I found myself turning on the shower and shaving at the same time, sorting out my uniform and still using the electric shaver.
This was the trip
FR 02 JUL REPORT AT 0950 LOCAL TIME LON
TRIP LENGTH 3 DAYS
1129 BA075 LHR LOS 1844 74D 1024
SA 03 JUL 2200 BA074 LOS LHR 0425 74D 810
CLEAR TIME (SU 04 JUL) 0610 LOCAL TIME LON
------------------- TOTAL DUTY HOURS 1834

It is good for allowances, the hotel is the Sheraton but not the 5* we are used too in Europe, within ten minutes of being in my room i had four mosquito bites on my left arm.
The flight was 5hrs 50 which in longhaukl terms in=s one of our shortest only beaten by Cairo.
The duty free sales are crazy, i took £1934.00 on my own, a lady in First class spending £939 on high value watches and other goods.
Internet here in my room is £20 per day so really expensive but i am living on packets of raw carrot and cucumber as well as golden vegetable powdered cup-a-soups.
Pleased i did not forget my Diabetes medication otherwise i would have been up that creak without the paddle.
Only two days off when i get home and hope they fill in my roster with a Los Angeles so i can visit my friends.