{"id":10966,"date":"2017-01-10T12:24:51","date_gmt":"2017-01-10T12:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=10966"},"modified":"2017-01-10T12:24:51","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T12:24:51","slug":"surviving-pot-noodles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=10966","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Surviving on Pot Noodles\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

As BA Mixed Fleet cabin crew begin their 48-hour strike today (January 10) over poverty pay, UNITElive speaks to Jorge*, a former crew member who explains the struggles he faced in a job that he said consumed him.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jorge started working for British Airways in 2010, just as the airline introduced its new Mixed Fleet, made up of cabin crew working on both long- and short-haul flights.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Despite promises from BA of much higher salaries, Mixed Fleet crew languish on wages just barely above the minimum wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c average annual earnings, including allowances are \u00c2\u014116,000, with basic pay rates starting at just \u00c2\u014112,192.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMy take home pay amounted to maybe \u00c2\u01411,500 a month, including allowances,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Jorge told UNITElive. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bEven though I was working full-time in an unimaginably draining job, it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough to pay all my bills \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I was receiving housing benefit from the council.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey give you an allowance for food but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nowhere near enough if you want to stay healthy,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jorge was lucky in that he had his own small business to help support his income but he said many of his colleagues would try to scrimp and save by spending as little on food as possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chronic stress and fatigue<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI knew people who virtually ate only pot noodles,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is especially terrible because the job is already so physically demanding \u00e2\u20ac\u201c chronic stress and fatigue were common problems.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unlike crew at other airlines, BA mixed fleet crew did not get proper breaks to help them recuperate from jet lag.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d do multiple long haul flights to Las Vegas over a short time period with only two-day rest breaks in between,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt first you can manage for a while but eventually it all builds up and the fatigue sets in \u00e2\u20ac\u201c you can barely go about your day.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one thing Jorge wished passengers who might not be entirely on-board with this week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strikes understood it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that passengers, too, are hurt by Mixed Fleet crew\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s low pay and poor terms and conditions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s radically high turnover among Mixed Fleet so you constantly have to be coaching new crew members,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere might be high turnover at budget carriers but this doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily pose a long-term problem for the service \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because on-board these flyers the service is relatively simple.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWith Mixed Fleet, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re dealing with a mixture of long-haul and short-haul flights, with various different types of aircraft and with four different classes on long-haul flights.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Safety concerns<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

Without a long-term, well-trained fleet, Jorge noted, the service will inevitably suffer \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and safety falls through the cracks as well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve always been a fast learner but it took me two full years to become entirely confident about all the safety and security features of the different aircraft we flew on,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMost people on Mixed Fleet don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t last nearly that long in the job.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPassengers should think about the bigger picture \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Mixed Fleet crew aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t greedy; they just want to be able to provide the best and safest service they can but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just not possible on such low pay. Anyone who is truly committed to the job will go to another airline where the pay and terms and conditions are better, which in turn empowers you to provide a better service.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the end, Jorge argues, BA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intransigence over Unite members\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 demands makes little sense in the face of one incontrovertible fact \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no business case to be made for keeping Mixed Fleet crew on poverty pay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBritish Airways makes millions in profits and what Mixed Fleet cabin crew want will barely make a dent in these profits,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPeople also don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realise how management constantly grinds you down; how they take advantage of the fact that Mixed Fleet crew are young and often don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know their rights. And they do everything they can to keep things that way \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for example, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll put a very vaguely worded clause in the contract that makes it seems as though you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t join a union. They basically trick you into not joining.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bJust as important as winning better pay, the strike is also an opportunity for these crew members to assert themselves, to stand up for their rights.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*Named changed to protect privacy<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pic of January 10 protest by Mark Thomas<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As BA Mixed Fleet cabin crew begin their 48-hour strike today (January 10) over poverty pay, UNITElive speaks to Jorge*, a former crew member who explains the struggles he faced in a job that he said consumed him.   Jorge started working for British Airways in 2010, just as the airline introduced its new Mixed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10969,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[390,96,215],"wps_subtitle":"Ex-crew tells of BA low pay hell","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10966"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10966"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10968,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10966\/revisions\/10968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}