If I might be permitted to venture an opinion here....I'll fess up, up front that I am not a working pilot, so I accept my opinion is of limited value.
however, it seems to me that Pressman nails it straight on when he says that no-one in this industry is actually really prepared to stand up and fight for the job of "pilot" rather than the employment of "me". It's this that enables Ts and Cs to be driven down, the dumbing down of the profession, the taking advantage of newbies like me and so on. Contentious yes and I fully accept there are a lot of pilots who do try and help in their own small way - however how much can one person do.
However, it also seems to me that Balpa has taken much from many people over the years, but has not really delivered much that's tangible. I also fully accept that often the value of a union is not obviously apparent and Balpas use may be hidden from immediate view...
So, two contentious points later...the rub. It seems to me that if Balpa and those pilots who belong/represent it want to make the difference and gain membership within ryanair - who we all know are more exposed than most to the whims of their management, then they need to do something to show they're not just all bark and no bite... And god knows right now this industry needs someone to fight back against the continual degradation...