SCOPE is not protectionism
This whole subject is one very close to my heart and I was initially a little disappointed that I have stumbled across it so late in the day. What I can say is that Hand Solo has voiced quite coherently the issue of how much 'fudging' goes on in this wonderful company that is BA, I take my hat off to you.
The whole SCOPE issue may be shrouded in rhetoric by BALPA regarding the number of seats (100+) and the theft of 'our routes', but fundamentally what all this boils down to is pilot shortages.
When (and if) the day ever arrived, where BA were finding it a little tricky to attract new pilots into its ranks as quick as they were retiring, then that would be the day when BALPA would have the ultimate law of supply and demand on their side.
300 or so senior Captains retired in the financial year just gone. A year ago BA faced a severe shortage of pilots and elected to buy CFE. One of the unspoken advantages of such a purchase was the inheritance of a large community of pilots that would ease the looming crisis of pilot shortages. The BACE/BAR transfer (and as a complication the insult that Ex-CFE crews are to help wind it down) is another short term fix for the pilot shortage.
I hope you all see my point. If the pilot shortages were to have occurred more markedly due to a comprehensive SCOPE agreement, then BA would have had to make its DEP rates more attractive to those that were needed to replace the bulge of retirees. With a large exodus of labour from so called 'feeder airlines' to BA, to plug this gap the 'feeders' would have had to consequently raise their rates to retain their pilots. WE WOULD ALL WIN.
So to all BALPA members, whether you are in Big Airways or outside, remember the favourite phrase of my superiors
"We pay you market rate why are you complaining?"
Let's all work together to make this 'market rate' a better one.