chc&p,
Alan Bristow might have been friendly towards pilots, but back in the late -70's several pilots were forced to leave the company. This was in part due to a campaign to get organized within the British Airline Pilots Association - BALPA. The company management was not friendly towards pilots on this issue.
You are partly correct. The pilots in Aberdeen were trying to form an association in 1976/7, and whilst many pilots were in favour of an association there were many at that time who were not in favour of a union or joining BALPA. Whilst Alan Bristow was, as SAS says, a great pilot's pilot, he and the rest of the company management were very against any sniff of unionisation. One pilot, who was fairly vocal and always trying to persuade pilots of the benefits of joining a union came to the company's notice and he was posted to Nigeria (a popular destination even in those days
). This was almost certainly as a result of his union activities, and he refused. Almost half the Bristow pilots decided to use this as a test of their strength and when the pilot who had refused his tropical posting was sacked, went out on strike. Bristow gave them 48 hours to return to work or they would be fired. A couple did go back to work, but the rest were fired. In the court case that followed, the original pilot who had been fired was found to have been illegally dismissed, but all the other pilots were found to have been fairly dismissed (I think becuase they were in breach of contract). I believe that in the years that followed a couple were employed by Bristow again, but there is rumoured to still be a black book in Redhill (maybe transferred to Houston by now) with the names of all the strikers, none of whom were ever employed by Bristow group companies again. Not surprisingly, feelings ran very high at the time and there was a lot of bitterness between old colleagues for many years after.
Whilst things have seemingly improved for Bristow pilots in Europe, overseas the same old attitudes still apply. Possibly one of the reasons companies like Bristow and CHC now employ so many nationalities in Nigeria is to stop them from forming associations or unions. This seems to be failing as well, as it seems that CHC pilots overseas worldwide are close to having enough people to form a Global pilots' alliance which the company would be forced to recognise under Canadian labour law.