Waco
an association is already there (EUFALDA), though it's not respresenting the industry needs as effective as BALPA obviously is. Part of the problem is, I think, that most of the high studied beancounters in management think that OPS staff has nothing else to do, but producing cost (i.e. benefit is not as visible). Just ask most of the pax what a dispatcher is and you'll find that most haven't got a clue. On the other hand every passenger will realize the need to have pilots or F/A's on the aircraft; so, their lobby is a lot better than OPS staff's.
Cheers