RAT
I don't believe that there exists an underlying contempt for the concept of a collective bargaining unit, or some form of professional association and your comments are perfectly understandable.
The difficulty lies in the assumption that BAPLA have some God given right to represent the pilot force and have some higher plane morality than airline management ( any airline) to boot.
Furthermore, the hopes of the bewildered massed ranks that BAPLA will be the cavalry riding over the hill must have been generated either by BAPLA outpourings or the ralllying cries of the brainwashed dimwits a la Dim Sleeper.
What has reinforced the position of the anti BAPLA camp is the abjectly inappropriate, and terminally stupid, timing of their dignity and respect campaign: when their members in BA and Virgin are struggling, their members in bmi are looking over their shoulders at the LH takeover wondering what will happen with their jobs and TFly are are taking cuts it begs the question about the sanity of certain BAPLA staff in London.
The perception that BAPLA is a one trick (BA) pony will not vanish overnight: a more effective solution for collective representation in other airlines via a less contentious negotiating partner may succeed at some point, but the BAPLA umbrella has too many holes in it for it ever to be the panacea some claim it is.