Your right pilothouse. Most of the current BALPA members are in BALPA for their own reasons, not for reasons of union recognition and representation. That said, I personally would welcome recognition & representation.
Even if current BALPA members had encouraged others to join with recognition and representation in mind, with so much talk of the T & G, the IPA etc, it would have been a waste of time.
Some posters on this thread have expressed anti BALPA feelings due to past experiences, yourself and silverhawk included. Maybe BALPA are not perfect, but they are the only realistic option, it's up to us to make it what we want.
Don't assume current BALPA members have done or are doing nothing. The membership joining packs that got distributed in the LBA crew room drop files didn't put themselves there. But until we can all agree that BALPA is the way forward, it's better to encourage membership quietly. The managment are the best recruiting tool BALPA have, what with dual basing, part time working etc; it's only a matter of time.
BTW, if you want some membership joining packs for MAN distibution, call membership and ask for them.