Originally Posted by
Alrosa
Fair enough. Can I ask why BALPA hasn’t done more to look after its members’ interests at BA ? Or perhaps that might open a can of worms.
The picture I’m getting is of BA management doing whatever they want and BALPA saying ‘ok’ ….happy to be corrected!
First off, the last two years has seen BALPA have to say “OK” to some things we would never normally countenance. No one knew how this was all going to play out and, quite rightly, the focus at the beginning of the pandemic during great uncertainty was the preservation of members jobs.
The bigger question and one we don’t really know the answer to is why the 2019 strike was called off, seemingly in the middle of the dispute and with little to show for it. Only a handful of people currently know the answer to this and no one is talking.
I do have some sympathy with balpa. People seem to believe that if they just asked for stuff BA would hand it over. Ultimately any meaningful concessions from BA rely on one of two things. Forget woolly talk of “morale” or “loyalty” or “doing the right thing”. These things are worth nothing to BA. The first is market forces, if they cannot recruit sufficient people - we shall see how the new campaign goes. Second would be successful strike action, or the threat of it, changing their calculus somehow. After 2019 I can understand why some were not keen to rush down this path. Make no mistake though, with other unions now seeing high single digit pay rises we are on the fast track to confrontation. This time around I don’t think its a fight BALPA can afford to lose.