Down in 3, you have it right up to a point; it is our fault because we don't stand up for ourselves as we should. You are utterly wrong however with accusations of whining. No one here is whining and a Capt is not usually expected to fly in the RHS, at least in my modest 20+yrs in commercial aviation I have never heard of it before. It may happen in the US, but then FOs don't even need type ratings there as I understand it. We do things a little differently here.
What I am really pissed off about is the fact that we, as a group, seem minded to allow this further chip at our terms and conditions without real protest, and our Union seems to be defending the management line instead of ours. Of course BALPA cannot achieve the impossible, and we, ourselves, are BALPA - it ain't no troop of cavalry lined up at Fort New Road ready to gallop to our aid. Our reps work like Trojans to modify the wilder schemes of the orange shed, touble is that BALPA doesn't see very much at all as possible, and has so often let us down where we have been promised so much progress and yet achieved a worse position than when we started, accompanied by crowings that their achievement was so fantastic under the circumstances and we should all be grateful (for the shafting...) Again, why is BALPA so silent on why they were not consulted on this? In any other industry the union would be screaming blue murder at such a change without consultation. It is this complacency that worries the fee paying members. Chip chip chip. Aint gonna be anything left to chip at before long.
Sorry, but unless BALPA does start to show some ability at achieving results on our side and not on behalf of the management then they will be increasingly seen as a busted flush. Last year I had 30 days holiday. This year I have 20 and BALPA claims this as a great improvement in terms of lifestyle and I should be grateful or it could have been worse. Oh really, how? My family do not agree. Chip. We lost our proper recurrent classroom training and BALPA muttered not one word despite the loss of a couple more days of our own time to do the work at home. Chip. We have to provide our own computers to read the company manuals, cost £600 or more. This is simply outrageous. Not a bleat from BALPA. Chip. Would they say a peep if it turned out we'd all have to buy Macs and not PCs? The hell they would!FOs found their loyalty bonus talked away, Chip. Talk abounds on doing away with Capt's bonus too in exchange for some unpromisable profit share scheme which BALPA inexplicably seems to favour. Chip. Now we are to work FOs duties with possibly insufficient training and BALPA is not even bleating about it. This is not progress, or value for money. Chip.
We will never recruit new members on this sort of record.
Chip chip chip.