I am surprised that you offered the 'free lunch' solution to rope pilots in under one banner.
It seems you have missed the point totally, it's not about a free lunch, it's about unifying the pilot body (not necessarily under the one banner) and providing reciprocal benefits to all parties!
The major concerns that are so often put forward on Pprune need to be addressed at present they are not!
-To many individual unions.
-Pilots under cutting other pilots (ie: seperate unions under cutting one another).
-Companies not paying the award.
-GA pilots who work for nothing.
I was able to dig into MY pocket when I was a sh!t-kicker C210 pilot working for "Secutib" and Hardy Aviation. Princely salary of $26,500 per annum. AFAP subs at the time were a minimum of $350 if I remember right -- MORE than 1% of my single engine VFR wage. I have the receipts and payslips downstairs if you wanna see.
Good for you, if I was able to, I would have as well, as I said previously it was not fiscally possible when liabilities exceeded income!
The problem is not that pilots are put off by the cost. The problem is that a lot of pilots don't see the value of union membership -- until they have a problem staring them in the face.
I don't agree, if people were given the opportunity to join from day one for free, many would! This would allow them to assess first hand the cost/benefit relationship, it would also bring many pilots into the fold much sooner! Whilst yourself and others have managed to join whilst in GA, I would say the vast majority do not join until later in their careers.
I am not here to debate the relative merits of one union or another, nor am I here to pass judgement on the 'value for money' provided by the AFAP! What I am trying to point out is that unions are under represented amongst the GA/small regional fratenity and something needs to be done. There are hundreds of threads on prune about the problems in the industry, many of which stem from the entry level positions upwards, the most common solution put forward is unity, I am expanding that by saying we need to be better represented in GA and offering but one solution. Do you agree with that much at least?
To look at it another way, how many pilots are employed by the airlines? How many are employed in GA/small regionals and how many have union representation? Which group is larger? Which group has the most industrial leverage?
When a house of cards topples over, it falls from the bottom up, not the other way round! Lets build a stonger foundation, benefits will flow both ways....
