Being ex Dan Air and ex BACX I have the following observations:
When Dan was taken over by BA, those on the 737-300/400 got the chance of SIM assesments and those that performed got jobs. Many of the more senior pilots were on other fleets, 737-200, 146,727, 1-11 etc. They were down the road, seniority mattered not. However, the more sensible Dan managment saw this coming and managed to get themselves on the 300/400 and were employed by BA. We were all BALPA members, there were to my knowledge, no discussions that included Dan's CC. They were as my friend, who was on the Dan CC at the time, said the other day, 'frozen out'. The IPA was born out of this fiasco, set up by disillusioned (with BALPA) pilots like Sam Bee.
Fast forward to BACX. BACX was bought by BA to provide cheap labour in the regions. BA have a history of buying regional companies for cheap labour and/or LHR slots that started back with BEA and progresssed through Dan, City Flyer and now BACX. BA were not interested in regional bases, or small aircraft, and those were desposed of in all the take overs I have mentioned. In BACX's case, as the regional bases shut and pilots became surplus, the number of surplus pilots about equaled the number required for the RJ. So it should have been a fleet and base change for most pilots, but no loss of job. Except that the BA CC insisted on mainline slots on the RJ, about 80 if memory serves correct. So 80 mainline pilots found themselves on the RJ, some on their first command whilst a similar number of BACX pilots were effectively redundant. They were not all made redundant, but the options offered to them were so poor that most either chose to leave or ended up being forced to move to the new owners of the ex BACX turbo prop's on vastly reduced T & C's whilst the TUPE regulations were neatly side stepped by both BACX and the other party. It didn't matter how senior one was, if one was no 1 on the seniority list and the only available slot was an DHC FO job 'cos that was all that was available, that's what you got.
So the point of all this is, had BA not seconded pilots to BACX it is almost certain that no BA pilot would have lost their job and certainly no BACX pilot either. Since BA did second their pilots to BACX, in some cases command (on the RJ) slots were created for BA pilots, in the meantime many BACX pilots were down the road. Some are still out of work, I spoke to one the other day. I think I'm right in saying the BACX CC were not consulted at all whilst the RJ negotions went on. They were frozen out according to the former BACX CC Chairman (familiar?). But the BACX managment all found themselves on the RJ or 146 (famiiar again?). The displaced IOM pilots are a case in point, most of them get bounced in to Loganair on the ATP, the managment transfer to the 146, even if they currently fly the ATP.
BALPA exists to serve BA pilots. They serve BA pilots first and foremost (rightly), anyone else's CC or other BALPA member gets steamrollered. A cosy relationship exists between BA and it's CC (whatever that tripe in the bi monthly BALPA rag might say) and when other parties become involved, thay are allways dis-advantaged.