jonathon68
Well said.
A bit on union politics....the general direction of the GC is driven by the executive. I believe that the majority of the GC want to go in the direction espoused on PPRUNE. The question was, is and always will be, what do the majority of the membership want? It is very easy to ignore PPRUNE, emails etc as being the 'squeaky wheels'.
Words or action?
I can understand and empathise with westcoast's view that CX will only react to people leaving. Call me an optimist but I still believe action will work. If nothing else it gives our discontent a focus.
Membership % too low
The recent success the FAU had in delaying the unilateral changes to their medical CoS shows that action will work, IMO. And I think their membership % is not dissimilar to ours. So maximum membership is not necessary.
Fear factor
Do pilots really believe that CX would fire 50 people again? No one is that stupid ( I think!) Do you really want to live your life in fear of what CX might do if you don't continue to bend over?
A suggested way forward.
We have two problems to deal with: the AOA and CX.
The AOA
There will be another vote for GC members and for the position of President in a little over 6 months. Now is the time to search your conscience and decide whether it is time you gave some of your time. It is no longer a HKG based job. In fact in the 06-07 GC it was over 50% based and commuters. So don't use your commuting or basing as an excuse to pass the baton to another....if not you, then who?
If we have a good turnout of GC nominations we can vote for those members most likely to represent our own point of views. Similarly if we can get 2 or more nominations for president then at least we can be sure to have someone that represents the majority's view.
CX
Contract compliance will work if all pilots do it. What won't work is it being done piece meal by some and not others. I know this is not a popular idea but I truly believe that we should all be as helpful as suits you until directed otherwise(late 2008). The difference between a compliant workforce and a contract compliant workforce will be more stark than a gradual transition from individual to collective contract compliance.
A new GC/President will have a more powerful industrial weapon to present to the membership - contract compliance. It is hardly going to get anyone fired and there really is no excuse for NOT carrying out contract compliance.
We need to work together on this...no basings vs HKG vs LEP vs KA vs Freighter etc. There is no sub group of pilots that hasn't been screwed by past actions/inactions of management. So, lets start planning ahead...