My first point is that we are not a small airline! We are of similar size if not larger than Monarch and Mytravel in respect of airframes.
Second point is that Balpa know the the industry and its a known fact that Balpa are only as good as the crew council we the pilots elect to negotiate on our behalf.
Balpa has to be the way forward as it is geared up for our industry. As for the 1% well this is reduced or subsidised in the first year. So we could give Balpa a year at this subsidised rate to see if they can in fact do us some good, if not then we regroup and look at the other options.
Our collective naivity is being exploited by the management, the airline is at times being run off the pure goodwill of the staff. Meeson and his mob realise this and in my opinion are expanding largley off the back of it.
Its time they are made to realise that the staff need to be shown some respect and reasonable T&C's put in place.