Mmm. One of my previous companies bought a smaller company and merged seniority lists, with the inevitable demotions & fleet changes. Didn’t affect me, I was in the ‘parent’ company.
Some of the disaffected pilots started a company council, they even called themselves the BALPA CC, not that the company recognised BALPA or there was anything like 50% +1 BALPA membership at the time. At the time many of us thought the CC were a bunch of pretenders; nobody voted for them, nobody asked for them, no one thought we needed them.
Over the years as my previous company grew, the original, approachable management began to be replaced by sharp-suited yes men, who’s autocratic style was coupled to their aggressive manner. Gradually, as more and more pilots collected disciplinaries for one thing or another & other grievances of various sorts, it was the self-appointed CC that began to get involved, usually with positive results. They had of course the advice and backing of BALPA; the CC’s stated aim was to gain BALPA membership and recognition from the outset.
As this company grew, stabilised and shrunk again, the role of the CC became very important, for example it was they that secured a rostering agreement that dictated a reasonable lifestyle. Rostering up until then was all about single days off, days off down route, finishing on late duties & starting on earlies; things that don’t affect Jet2 yet, but as the company becomes more organised it surely will. It was CC that got the pay rises (Jet2: Less than inflation this year), the reasonable loss of licence insurance (Jet2: 8 weeks paid, rest unpaid until you lose the licence), the decent medical insurance (Jet2: recently changed, use the NHS first), pilots trained up as pension scheme trustee’s so that they could monitor changes in the company pension scheme (Jet2: new scheme, old one wrapped up, advantages or disadvantages not fully known yet).
And finally as the company lost money and began to shrink, it was the CC, by now with pilots BALPA 50% +1 membership and full recognition; that sorted the redundancies and demotions out. To my knowledge there were no compulsory redundancies.
It all started with a few energetic and farsighted individuals who had the foresight and energy to start a company council.
Silverhawk: Thanks for the PM, I will be in touch over the next few weeks, either by PM or phone