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!
Its not about 'good for me' and patting myself on the back. I was in pretty much the same career and family position you painted for yourself... several mouths to feed, and house. And there are a few Ppruners that will recall that Darwin was one of the most expensive places in Australia to attempt both those feats in the early 1990s.
Ergo, you have no excuse. I do not claim to be a better person than you, nor more disciplined. I was pretty much in the same boat. I found the money for union subs, you deployed your meagre resources in other ways.
The cost of union membership to cover a CPL performing single engined VFR work is approximately the cost of paying for a checkout in a C210 to get a job. It is half the cost of purchasing a handheld GPS, and a half to two thirds the cost of equipping yourself with a David Clark headset (forget the ANR).
And as my friend points out, it is a fraction of the money spent on beer etc.
HH, I do know from reading your posts that you are genuinely concerned about the state of the profession. And good on you for putting forward a suggestion.
However, the bit that gets my goat is.... well, let me turn it around for you and maybe you will see what I am driving at.
Lets say your neighbour leans over your fence and starts telling you that you are not spending your money properly on looking after your house. You obviously have a few dollars by the nice suit you wear when you head off to work, and it really behoves you to make an extra contribution to smarten up the streetscape, for the sake of your good neighbours as well as yourself.
I think that you might be tempted to go tell that guy to mind his own business.
What I read from your posts is another classic "why dont they...." from a pilot. Along with that sage advice, which you obviously spent a bit of time thinking over, you admit to a few things...
.....that you are not a union man,
.....your general outlook is heavily influenced by a North American political and social mores that place a lot of faith in the power of corporations to do good, which I am afraid just doesn't bear up in the context of a conservative and short sighted Australian aviation management culture,
.....you have not previously attempted to organise a workforce,
.....you have no experience of formally representing a workforce to an employer,
.....you are unaware of the previous and current IR legislation.
.....you gloss over the foibles, rivalries, jealousies and other all too human traits of the people you think to organise.
First thing that ticks me off --
Now it so happens that I have spent more than a little time trying to generally better the lot of my fellow pilots in those places where I worked.
And I am telling you brother, that your heart might be pure and your intentions good, but you don't know nuthin' until you walk a mile or two in the shoes of a workplace rep/branch committee member.
It doesn't matter if we are talking about a 'contract' grade 3 instructor earning $30/hr while the prop turns, or a senior check captain on a salary of $200k. I have heard all of them come up with excuses for not paying.
There are not many insurance policies that you can buy for yourself that will indemnify you for the loss of an aeroplane on your watch, C182 or B747, plus the people and property in it and underneath it, for only $350 or 1% of your base salary.
I put it to you that that 'cover' is ridiculously cheap. A medical doctor, chartered accountant, etc would love that professional indemnity cover at that price.
So it is not about affordability. It is about whether the pilot 'buys' the idea of being protected, or not. It is closely linked to the mindset of.. I am a good employee, I do what I am told, I know my job, my employer will look after me.... etc.
Fine.
Just don't try and tell me I don't get it. I have been there, I found it hard to find the money, and boy am I glad I did. I haven't put a scratch on an airplane (yet) and I think I am pretty good at my job, but that is no protection in my mind. You never know what is around the corner.
I have fielded panicked phone calls from guys that in all other respects were just like me, but maybe they made a joke about the check and training manager, were being 'set up' by a colleague, had made a bad judgement call at work despite their best efforts. Got an email inbox full of "i was overlooked" "someone else got my slot" "coerced into signing an AWA" "not paid my entitlements" "forced base transfer with no time to relocate family" "facing forced redundancy". Its all there.
Second thing that ticks me off --
Becoming a member is the first step. An important step, but only a first step. A union is not like being in a health fund. You don't pay the minimum dues and turn around and say "gimme."
Unions and employee associations are more like sporting clubs or community associations. All that your dues get you is the right to vote, and participate. A little extra effort is required. It used to be expected, but generation X and Y and all that....
It implies that you at least follow what is going on. And at some stage participate as a base rep, sit on the technical committee, write a paper on issues facing junior members. Go to social functions, meet other members, take on some responsibilities. Become a "pilot friend" in readiness for the day when a boggie 210 pilot needs a hand.
Unions, whether the AFAP, TWU, MUA or SDA, are run on shoestring budgets. There might be some salaried officials, but they are directed by a volunteer committee or board.
So HH, what I am saying there is -- if a bloke cant pass the 'test' of stumping up a few lousy bucks, then what use will he be? The real test is participation. Making it cheaper or free won't change anything.
Third thing that ticks me off ---
Like any AFAP-member pilot that managed to find and stump up the hard earned dollars during the good times and the bad times, and watched his/her union live under a cloud of damages litigation for fifteen years, I am very pleased to see that the federation has not only survived, but has turned the corner and is now in sound financial health and getting stronger. That is down to the hard work and commitment of a handful of pilots that simply believed that australian pilots needed the federation.
It is far from perfect, but it is not the organisation it used to be. The swagger is gone. It is now a much more streetwise organisation that has to pick its battles. It has some superb resources, and most importantly, it has
legal recognition within the IR system (ask the National Jet pilot group what that means) and
the capability to effect permanent change as a registered industrial organisation, and it knows the industry.
And a neighbour whose armchair attentions have just turned to pilot conditions, that has never paid a dollar in dues, leans over the fence and starts to tell the AFAP how it should collect its dues, how it should spend its money, how it should structure itself?
What answer did you expect?!?