AlR, have just read your post #124- way to go Old Chap! Your incisive dissection of the body politic is indeed impressive. My worry re BAFF though is not the 20 years down the line metamorphosis that you envisage, rather a far more subtle and dare I say British outcome. My experience with union power was as an airline pilot. 21 years membership of BALPA culminated in being shafted by them, along with the other exDanAir pilots taken over by BA. That was when we discovered that all BALPA members were equal, but some were a good deal more equal than others. Briefly, as the details are now history, BA at BALPA's insistence changed our terms and conditions to advantage mainline BA pilots getting commands in our separate AOC airline, BA(EOG) Ltd, at the expense of our more senior co-pilots. They did this because our management was supine and powerless to stop it. If you consider the military equivalents, ie subordinate commanders versus civilian management, and BAFF versus BALPA, you might start to see my laborious point. If BAFF truly gets the influence it is looking for it will be at the cost of any remaining authority of junior commanders. They are the only commanders in the RAF that truly command, and always have been. Everyone above that level is really part of the RAF bureaucracy, discharging policy from above. Military discipline, and hence effectiveness, rests with those junior commanders. Usurp their powers, as is already rife, and you let the genii out of the bottle. If their decisions and summary actions are being constantly monitored and reported on by the "Baffmen" they will end up as hamstrung as the soviet commanders who had to concentrate on placating the commissars often at the expense of effective military action. My doom laden prognosis for 20 years ahead? Our Armed Forces will indeed become a mirror image of our continental cousins without even the threat of strike action!
Last edited by Chugalug2; 6th Aug 2008 at 10:37.
Reason: Words dear boy, words!