BusBoy - I genuinely wish to thank you for being willing to put the past behind and get on with the job in hand. As you rightly point out, a big altercation may be looming and we need every single member's support. We are delighted to have yours.
The Real Slim Shady - you are, of course, most welcome to participate in this debate given its subject matter. Indeed you are representative of those proud Ryanair pilots who scuppered BALPA's plans at your company earlier this year. You are now the proud recipient of compulsory leave (ie you now only get 11/12 of your promised salary and they still get 900 hours a year out of you. The wonderful advantage of having no union to represent you is that all that nasty negotiation could be dispensed with and you just got told about your pay cut. To the casual outsider, a 1% expenditure on BALPA might seem small beef in comparison with the 8.3% non-negotiated pay cut you had while your company posted a several hundred million Euro profit. Not to worry though, the Blessed Michael is undoubtedly grateful to you all - even if he never quite gets round to telling you. Why have we not had the same deal superimposed upon us given we made less profit than you? Is it because a) Our managers just love us or b) Our managers know BALPA would instantly ballot for strike action were they to do so. Answers on a postcard to NSF @ The Orange Order. In all honesty, the only real difference between Ryanair and easyJet is BALPA - we both have the same complete fascists running our respective companies, albeit yours are a bit more overt about it. Our BALPA reps have spent the last year fighting battle after battle - the truth is they have won some and lost some. If, as seems possible, we are limbering up for the main event then the only protection we will have will be our union. I still believe a compromise will occur at the last minute. However, as can be seen from this debate and numerous private conversations around the company, people are willing to stand up and be counted if there is not a big turnaround. BALPA is the only vehicle through which the pilots' voices will be heard.