next in line.....
Where you comment about the bottom rung being us and not the local reps I think I pre-empted your comments in my previous post. I refer you to my previous post(don't want to reprint it again) in particular the paragraph beginning;
" I'll pre-empt the..."but we are BALPA, and it is up to us".
you say..... "95% voting 'yes' is a huge number but the reps have to be absolutely sure that 95% will not turn up for work before embarking on action. "
So what are you proposing, that once BALPA has recieved our strike ballot results(95%) they should then carry out another ballot asking how many guys are really serious about their first vote. And then they can then run a third ballot asking how serious we where on the second ballot, etc, etc. This is what my post(Part 1+2)is on about when I talk about leadership. It is not up to BALPA to make personal assessments about what they think might or might not happen(the FEAR factor to which I refer)but once they have received our mandate(95% or less)it is their job to MAKE IT HAPPEN! No wonder BA are never worried about a pilot's strike if our union is scared to act on such a majority vote. What would have happened if we would have had 100% in support, would BALPA have to still go away and wonder if we really mean it, and worry that some might fold early. If they are worried that a few might cave in then they should be rallying the troops and reassuring the weakest links, not telling us how scared they are that the strike or BALPA might collapse. If the union collapses it is because it fails to deliver the wishes of it's members, if it cannot deliver on it's members wishes then why are we giving 1% of our money away? So CD can drive a nice car? The union must be effective, and to be effective they need to show leadership in order that they can carry out our wishes.
You also say....
"Anyway, if I recall correctly, most of the objectives from the last ballot were met"
I could fill the server of pprune explaining why this was NOT the case but experiencing it first hand I can reassure you that this was not the case. BALPA was allowed to declare the victory and it was in their interests to tell the members that all was acheived, rather than admit ineffectiveness and failure. Co-pilots at EOG recieved about 11% more for 10% more work(actually at a loss if those same hours had been worked on the old pay....overtime), the increase in the CAPT's wages(longevity) was sufficient to fill the increasing GAP in numbers of people bidding for EOG Commands(BA needed to do something to encourage bidders and their tactic proved a success, but this was not as a result of BALPA's actions). In fact BA had proposed introducing longevity into EOG months before the pay negotiations to solve their shortage problems but actually delayed doing so for months so that it could be seen as a concession to the negotiations. Other so called BALPA victories included;
- a repeated promise(from pay deal negotiations 2yrs previous) to look into a bidding system for EOG(installed 5years late).
- New Entrant lower wages slipped in at the second round, which I think they have done quite well out of over the past few years of recruitment(a third of BA pilots now on this wage).
The list goes on but it is hard to realistically call it a success. I remember sitting at a BALPA meeting pre-strike where BALPA showed various overhead slides at BA's pay proposals and had a jolly good laugh about it and showed how it was actually a loss in pay. Anyone else who attended might remember. After the strike vote the only difference was BA reduced the annual hrs by about 5 from their proposal, they introduced longevity(surprise surprise, no more CAPT shortage)and NEW Entrant lower wages. I opposed this at the time based on our projected retirement rate meant we would soon have a lot of angry colleagues.
Your continued personal vindictiveness towards JF I will not comment on except to say you continue to ignore people telling you that JF is not actually running to stay in the GS office. He is not benefitting personally from this at all. In fact he is sticking his neck out a lot further than any of our BALPA "Leaders" have done since I've been in this union and will probably incurr only a lot of thankless work in doing so. Perhaps he lacks the FEAR gene that is required to rise to the top of our union.
Good luck with your CD vote, if the poll on this board is anything to go by though I wouldn't run down to Ladbrokes betting your wages on his victory.