Not an organisation I have ever felt any great compulsion to join, and this situation does not surprise me greatly.
In my own company, the BALPA CC mostly comprises senior captains, and coincidentally, most negotiations work out heavily in their favour. Strange that.
No effort is put into recruiting new members, and that to me speaks volumes about the union mentality. Lazy and arrogant.
I was also recently shown a copy of the latest BALPA demands from the company. To say that the CC live in cloud cuckoo land would be putting it mildly. Absolutely no grasp of reality whatsoever.
Equally strangely, the 'concerns' listed by BALPA from a recent tour of bases, does not match with the concerns which are raised from all crews through a separate company forum - they fit perfectly however with the personal views of the senior CC members.