tilii,
Just a quick note. I too thought of Balpa as being the 'BA line pilots association'.
Now that I'm in BA I find that they do more for outsiders than they appear to do for us! It's a worry really!
Anyway, the main reason for any union not doing anything for anybody is because they don't have the remit to act. You have to have a critical mass of members to get the union to act. The membership IS the union and unless enough people join, then of course nothing will happen and people will continue to get shafted by their employers. It's really quite simple.
Having said that - if a non-union bloke were sat next to me I would treat him/her exactly the same as anybody else. Courtesy and professionalism demand it!
Regards,
Underdog