NSF: your reply while very interesting does not really answer the questions I asked about the comments you made earlier relating to the next battle etc.
It is quite obvious even to me that pilots working for a big airline like easyJet need to be represented collectively by a union but what I object to is the way that quite a few balpa members seem too ready to force their views on others, to hijack any arguement (this thread is about the holding pool) turning it into a balpa recruiting campaign and to make assumptions about people which sometimes border on the insulting. And if one dares to criticise something a balpa rep has done or said, it is invariably met with the response "well if you think you can do better why arent you a rep"
Actually I am in balpa but like a lot of members I do not have a better answer and I do not regard it as good value for money. I also respect the right of others who choose not to belong because over the last thirty odd years I have seen that even if you are a member, when it comes to standing together on an important issue the membership is often diluted by apathy or fear.