To all British Airways pensioners and retired staff worldwide

BA be fair

Staff Travel Campaign Working Group

UPDATE - JANUARY 9th 2009

With the publication in the December edition of Touchdown of the "Final Word on Staff Travel" the Working Group has decided that the campaign's objectives have been rejected entirely by British Airways. This will not mean that we shall cease applying pressure to BA and its supporters but it does mean that the objectives for which we raised the Fighting Fund have not been met.

In the near future the Working Group, the members of which are in no mood to simply give up, will publish a full and detailed review of the campaign and reveal what steps we shall be taking next. However, so that we avoid emulating the British television companies who charge for phone-in votes when the decision is already made, we feel it is important to close the Fighting Fund. Consequently any contributions received from this date (and interestingly we are still receiving them from supporters who have only recently discovered the campaign) will be returned to them with a copy of this explanation.

Financially, the campaign has been run very frugally and we have several thousand pounds reserve in the kitty. (Ms Hatchwell please note.)

Contributors will recall that although ABAP has been handling the financial accounting and payment of bills, the Fighting Fund was ring-fenced and separate from the Association's regular funds. We also published a formula for returning any excess to individual contributors and that process will now be put in hand. This will take time so please be patient.

Some contributions were made anonymously and the Working Group is first establishing how much the refund to these sources amounts to before deciding what should be done with the money. In any case, the formula means that each contribution has to be evaluated against the formula.

Furthermore some contributors who only qualify for small refunds and may decide that they'd prefer to pass the money to ABAP's general funds in recognition of the role it has played in co-ordinating the campaign and a channel for this option (which will be entirely private and unpublished except between the individual contributor and the Association so there's no pressure) will need to be set up.

So this isn't the end of the campaign but (if you will allow us to paraphrase Churchill) it may be the end of the beginning.

To view the original site please click on Campaign Origins