At the risk of stirring up a hornets“nest again, may I offer a view on this? As BA F/O I do feel let down , by both BA and BALPA, for having non BA pilots flying BA work (cargo) I“m sure other pilots would feel the same if they were sent home on half pay (or no pay) and suddenly a lower cost operator brought in to fly the work. BALPA“s solution of inserting BA pilots into GSS, i feel has only undermined our position. BALPA now recognise the going rate for a BA pilot (on secondment) is a lot less than flying the same -400 in BA. We haven“t protected opportunities at all, merely driven the wedge in deeper. Of course BA are going to say "Fly for GSS", we“ve just reduced their costs for them!
What BALPA should have insisted on, is the opportunities to fly for GSS, and BA "top up" the GSS pay to a similar widebody command in BA. That would be an opportunity.