Balpa have stated somewhere in the (very)small print that they want increased contributions for BARP members (British Airways Retirement Plan) ie.all joiners post April 2003. But bear in mind that BARP guys are all new joiners to BA (150 bods), and Balpa's priority is the final salary scheme (NAPS) for 3000 bods, so where would you guess BARP comes on the Balpa agenda?
So if BALPA are dominated by the 'old guys' looking after themselves (understandably) what's the point in joining BALPA as a BA newbie ?? I don't want anyone else's money, but the current pension on offer at BA is poor and if BALPA want MY money I'd want them to do something for me - and negotiating a good pension is one of those things.
As for BA,
IF I'm ever fortunate enough to have a choice of where to work next
AND one of those places is BA, the pension is a big influence on the decision making. VS would be lovely though ....