I amnot sure how the supporters of te AFAP get a reaction.
I haven't been a member for 2 years now.
I had reason to ask them to deal with a personal issue of mine around 4 yrs ago and I didn't receive one iota of help.
Then the Pilots in the company I work for had an agreement to negotiate and I was astounded at the attitude of the AFAP. They tried to convince us the company offer was a reasonable deal and sign up. My attitude was "pigs arse" it was a crap deal and should have been sold as such. We didn't want more, we wanted to retain what we had.
The TWU were useful in achieving that goal.
Since then, well they (TWU) haven't had a great impact. The AFAP have had none.
If you know some one in a position of power in either the AFAP or TWU you may have an opportunity to kick some goals when required.
If the organisation needs some publicity and they think they can win, you will receive some assistance.
It all boils down to how it will effect the union. Their funds are limited and they will not want to or be able to asist every person who asks.
The TWU membership is around $1 a day. That is only a little over $360 a year. Most employees in Aus ave an issue at some stage so do the math and work out how much support you will get. Your membership also has to pay for the organisations fixed costs, let alone legal fees if it ends up inconfrontation.
My advice, the AFAP should be better regarding aviation issues, the TWU is probably better dealing with IR issues.
Consider why you want a union, IR or personal aviation support and go from there.