To quote the great American showman P T Barnum, "There's a sucker born every minute" - and there are several on this thread right now! The blind loyalty of unablereqnavperf to Michael O'Leary is touchingly reminiscent of Joseph Goebbel's loyalty to Adolf Hitler. Right to the bitter end, there was dear Joseph demanding loyalty from all his fellow travellers - utterly blinded to the hideous truth of his master. You can hear it now, "The Furher may have killed 20 million Russians but he must have had his reasons - he would only have done it because he thought it necessary. Who are we to question?" Such has been the devotion of the weak to the apparently strong around them down the centuries.
Regarding the more immediate problem of BALPA and the assertion that they never achieved anything in any airline, let me give you a few examples. At easyJet we have had a number of our pilots disciplined down the years - at the last count BALPA has won every single appeal on each individual's behalf. In reality that means someone's career was under threat and as a minimum a substantial financial package was arranged on their behalf or in many cases they were reinstated. When easyJet decided to only employ Training Captain's on temporary contracts without consultation (thereby making the 1%/year everyone whines about look small beef compared to the 12.5% loss of salary), it was BALPA that fought it and won. Throughout last Winter when there was little training, everyone got paid for holding the rank as opposed to what they were doing day to day. Why do we have crew food still (and only today have won yet another crew food battle with our employers) and Ryanair do not? Why do easyJet pilot contract details appear on the internet for all to see when Ryanair's are 'private matters' between employee and employer? Why did we get our previously-agreed 5.5% pay deal given out last October when everyone else got pay freezes? Why are we not having contract captains from Virgin Atlantic this summer when the company had already made the arrangements behind our back? Why are there being massive changes now to rosters to train our First Officers very hurriedly to be our Captains flying our aircraft over the summer? Why did easyJet pilots not receive notification of compulsory unpaid leave whereas Ryanair pilots did? There is only one reason - BALPA fought tooth and nail - using a combination of logic, reasoning and threats. This they acted in the best interests of the pilot community, when faced with totally unscrupulous individuals who would leave us in the street with nothing. BALPA has not won every battle every time, but they have won most battles on most occasions. Having BALPA represent the pilots is the only thing that separates our two companies. The benefits are there for all to see.
Do not be misled by the "Michael knows best" brigade. To him you are just a bunch of "aerosexuals" (his term and not mine!), who are there for the taking. I trust you will use your best judgement by backing the future and not the past.