“The Dan Air case was interesting, BALPA's evidently called the wrong shot there, as lawyers sometimes do. The law is a performing art remember, not an exact science.”
No, Agaricus bisporus, BALPA did not call the wrong shot, they knew precisely what they were up to when they intentionly sold DANAIR, no small outfit, down the river to protect their vested interests with BA. They operated at BA’s calling, make no mistake about it.
It wasn’t BA that BALPA helped you fight was it remoak. Have they EVER supported another airlines’ pilots against BA? Do BALPA possess any principles whatsoever? I doubt it.
Anyway, what relevance is a dubious union when the magistrate in the industrial tribunal that the DANAIR Pilot’s Action Group took BA to ruled that, yes, BA had broken the industrial agreement, and no, BA were not required to do anything about it! Fair reinstatment is all we were after. Great British justice for you.
Yes we got a sum from BA as a grace and favour measure, [which they could easily find from the surplus in the DA pilot’s pension fund], in my case around a grand for every year of service, about a third of what I would have received if the BALPA reps had ever bothered to negotiate a redundancy agreement for us. We, as unemployed pilots in a disastrous market, did not have the wherewithal, [or ANY union backing] to challenge the tribunal’s incredibly perverse decision, which fills me with many suspicions.
Our Flight Engineers were better assisted by the TGWU, at considerably less cost to them.
BALPA, no thank you, I’d save my money.