BALPA Fear and the GS Elections(PART 1)
BALPA FEAR and the General Secretary Elections
The main reason for this lengthy post is to vent my feelings on the coming GS elections(or recent elections depending on publication), to reassure non-BA BALPA members the nomination of John Frohnsdorff (a BA BALPA rep nominated with overwhelming BACC support)for General Secretary(GS) is not a BA pilots conspiracy to put one of their own in place at the top of BALPA and highlight some of the reasons why an election is vital to all of our futures as UK pilots. It is important to mention that the following is not meant to in anyway to reflect negatively on the hard work and daily achievements of our local council BALPA reps who do a tremendous job with little thanks, but rather to examine the effectiveness of the higher echelons of our union.
For those still reading.......
A lot of debate has been stirred up recently on the Internet pilot bulletin boards with regard General Secretary Elections. Most pilots will have probably not have even taken noticed of the surreptitiously coded BALPA letter that arrived through the mail outlining that the GS position actually was up for re-election(a 5-year event)and the deadline rapidly approaching should anyone dare want to nominate anyone else other than the incumbent Chris Darke. The letter started off by admitting that it had originally been sent out by e-mail and was only sending it out via regular post begrudgingly at the insistence of some members who thankfully understood the importance that 100% member notification of elections are a necessary pre-requisite in any democratic process(even Mugabe realised this point). It then proceeded to apologise to those who had received the message already via e-mail, not to those like myself who had not received it in the first place, implying that this notification letter was all just an unnecessary waste of resources. The letter then named the BALPA Rules with regard nominating a GS candidate(Rule 28, 24 Appendix 1)which I suppose one could look up in their BALPA Association Rulebook(sent at time of joining-which I'm sure most pilots have kept...NOT) rather than detailing in the letter itself(which of course would have been yet another unnecessary burden). And if a reader was still not put off of the idea of having a GS election by this point, the letter outlined the timetable to be followed; only 5weeks from the notification letters date to nominate a candidate(it could take some of us this long to find that rulebook outlining how to do that in the first place)along with various other hurdle dates and the occasional comment such as, "Announce nominations or result if only one candidate" "If an election is required to run between these dates".
The tone of the afore mentioned letter and recent postings on the Internet(unverified) of comments made by the Chairman and Vicechairman that they "FEAR" a GS election could break apart BALPA as a result of non-BA BALPA members withdrawing their support if a BA council nominated GS candidate should be elected, have led me to believe that BALPA do not in reality want to hold such elections as they may have to face up to the fact that a large number of it's members are in fact dissatisfied with it's recent track record and an election could in fact be the spark that ignites a desired total BALPA shake-up of it's existing management. As for the Chairman and Vice-Chairman's comments about this possibly breaking apart the union, I think it sounds like we need to hold elections for their positions as soon as possible as well.
Why some in BA might be miffed by BALPA's recent track record and if our experience is anything to go by, why other non-BA members should take note?
My own history is as a cadet trained BA pilot graduated 91. Laid off on graduation due the Gulf war for 4years(which I luckily spent flying elsewhere). I re-joined BA in Apr95 as a 737co-pilot at EOG(on their BALPA agreed terms and conditions which were much less than those cadets who joined straight in to BA in 91). After a few months in, BALPA agreed to the BA BEP initiative which was backdated to the 1stApr95(18days prior to my joining BA). This basically reduced my pay for my first 6years(i.e. year 3 was now 20K instead of 30K). Some have put this BEP earnings loss at a figure ranging anywhere from 50-70K of over the first 7years. It also introduced new entrant pay scales in BA. Those affected in BA by these reduced BEP wages now total a third of the BA workforce.
Everyone here needs to realise that it has been weak leadership in BALPA and nothing else that has been the cause of us losing every pay deal/conditions in recent history. Recently BALPA failed us even when they had 95% ballot support for strike. It was their "FEAR" then that the support might collapse should the pay deal be drawn out, and this might subsequently cause BALPA to collapse(sound familiar) that caused them to fall at the first hurdle. Is this protecting our 95%voted interests or the union for the unions sake? What about leadership? It was their job to maintain the support not weigh it up personally. At that time, if they had done their job and reassured those concerned pilots calling in that a strong front remained instead of worrying about how it might affect the union, it would have been BA that would have collapsed. I imagine it was only a worried minority that called the BALPA office and the vast majority sitting at home quietly awaiting strike action if necessary were only informed there was problems after it had all been called off. Is it too much to ask that BALPA lead strongly from the front once we have made our wishes known(95% !!!!!!!). They shouldn't be leaking stories of "FEAR" out to the troops but the exact opposite. If they are too conservative and fearful to take a stand and lead from the front then they shouldn't have run as a BALPA rep in the first place. We don't want or need people like this at the head of our union. It doesn't mean they have to be pig-headed but they do need a little fibre(much lacking recently)and charisma to lead the troops when needed, especially if it's in the best interests of the members to do so, of course there will occasionally be risks associated. You don't get anywhere in life without sticking your neck out once in a while.
Why is BALPA the only union BA are not scared to confront. Look at the recent "Transport for F.Engineers redundancy" debacle....our union buckles and the transport drivers just turn around and say NO.(I am not going to debate the virtues of either approach, just to state how ineffective our union can be to others). You can name any other union in BA and management are scared of them and don't even ask a second time if the first response is NO! CC...loaders...drivers....cargo...etc. Pilots....no problem, we are already working legal Max hrs/year, paid 40% less than N.American colleagues(ignoring cost of living differences) and they still try to squeeze us for more when some BA divisions(remain nameless)use work to rule to secure overtime, get paid even when they don't show up(often up to 40% of the workforce absent)and BA well aware of this fail to stop it. No, instead just ask the pilot's to give up something else. Give me a break, wake up everyone.
It is BALPA's job to carry out the members wishes, which might include having something as trivial to them as a G.S.election. If the union actually faces breaking up over something this trivial, if I was a BALPA rep I would be quickly working behind scenes to reassure local council reps so as to prevent any divisions before anyone else found out how weak we really are. I certainly wouldn't be trying to rally members by "FEAR" to prevent a democratic process. If you elect another GS candidate or don't vote for Chris Darke, non-BA BALPA members will resign and the union might collapse financially. Sounds like we need a whole raft of elections to lance this festering boil. We need to weed out these "FEARFUL" BALPA reps no matter how good they are in other areas. If they aren't strong enough to rally us when the going gets tough but instead mutter about how worried they are, then they should do themselves and us a favour and step down.
Continued PART 2..............
Last edited by airrage; 31st Mar 2002 at 21:43.