Just a few words before Saturday siesta (6 am Sim !).
It is not the person ( CD) I am defending, he is big enough and old enough to do that himself. Anyway, he is gone and you cannot go back.
What I do defend, is good governance and process. A democratic organisation, with democracy, freely elected representatives, responsible to their electorate, but just like MPs, they are free to discharge that responsibility without threat. Poor performance is rewarded at the ballot box ! Decisions to be based on accurate information, backed with facts and evidence rather than tabloid type hype and which must comply with the Law. People who will speak up and be identified, taking responsibility for their decisions, rather than those who hide behind pseudonyms etc, throwing questionable facts and not taking responsibility, an easy task for a wrecker with today’s easy communications one might say. Perhaps some are that, who knows, as they say the contributors to this may not be who they appear to be !
It is a very sad state of affairs, for whatever reason , when the people you have elected as your CC reps etc, had one view of an individual that they work with and the constituency , i.e. members who had probably no direct contact, had another. Given that there seems to be some confusion in the memberships as to just what each part of the organisation does and who and what it is responsible for, then that should be where it starts. It already exist, but it seems many don’t bother to read it. Perhaps the odd page three girl, some pages out of FHM and for older members, instructions of how to employ a plumber in France, would spice it up a bit!
Any real ideas?
As to the previous incumbents failings. A lot seems to have been said, but just so readers are clear as to what sort of failings a Gen Sec might make and why a Gen Sec, who after all only provides advice, might have concluded that a strike might be a bad idea in some cases, please give us some hard fact examples of what it was that was not done and what should have been done. As an example, why not tell us ALL about the 777 bunks, after all it seems so important to some, in fact enough to want to get a lot of people on strike, so let us have it, warts and all, plus the corresponding BACC minutes, which should explain the story. It was after all being quoted as a major reason for the previous Gen Secs removal, because of his flawed judgement in not calling for a strike, or rather it seems recommending a strike to the BACC, where responsibility for that decision lie. It seems like some think the Gen Sec"orders" the members out on strike like Red Robbo of Longbridge , not sure we are all prepared to someone’s “ego fodder”!
I am concerned about how the association deals with its current situation. We have lost a member of the team. The remaining members will have an increase in workload, as the previous member DID spend time dealing with issues. Ask any of the CCs about how much support they got by whoever it was, add it up and divide by persons available then and now. Any complaining about 25 % more work this year than last for no extra pay, may like to think about the remaining workload shunted on to others at New Road with the change of people. This is because of the candidate Gen Sec, who will be unable to deal with it, unless he resigns his current full time work and moves back to the UK, so he can discharge the responsibilities he sought and obtained with the vote he received!
By the way how come someone has got time to do 25% more work this year ? You must have been flying less than 680 hours a year to do that, or it’s illegal (900 hrs per anum. max ).Seems a cushy number to me when some are busting 900 hrs long haul BA and even short haul gets me up to 75 hours per month block time!
As to style of operation of the Association, well that is an issue that we need to address. Do you work together, or do you have guerrilla warfare ? The choice is yours, just remember though, it is not a war we (pilots) can win unless, we own the companies we work for. Probably a good idea, but then we become the bosses which , as some find out, is not quite the same as being a worker. Thus, there will always be an us and them. So the issue is how to deal with it, bearing in mind the UK law which basically requires the directors to maximise the shareholders return and has absolutely NO DUTY to increase the employees pay, no matter how worthy they may be. They only pay us anything, or more because if they did not, we would go elsewhere (if we could )
So, you can either continue at war, which as any historian tells you, costs a fortune and destroys a lot, including what was not intended to be, or, you can realise that you both have mutual objective, like getting paid as much as you can for whatever service you offer and trying to do that to mutual advantage. By the way, comment was made about geese and golden eggs somewhere. As a former chicken keeper, a more productive line would be, to get as good an output of eggs for as long as possible, because if you threaten or frighten a chicken, sure it drops the eggs(or other stuff !!!) when you do it, but then the little b***** doesn’t lay anymore for a while, while it recovers from the shock! This can leave you feeling good about today’s two eggs instead of the former one per day, but is no consolation when you have to wait a week for the next one and you kill the odd one learning how much pressure you can apply to their neck and not kill them!( reminds me of an MP somehow!)
You have to have a working relationship, the concept of open warfare that is espoused by some is not sustainable on either side, after all, how big is British Leyland now ? Don’t think it could not happen to any airline in the EU, as now it is EU, there are definitely more options available to any of the big fish, including any weak and wounded other big, or bigger ones!
Flagging out by the way, is as I said, continually raised by BALPA, but if it has an EU or certain other registrations (Iceland is one I believe) it is allowed. It is a Government not CAA issue and we constantly attack it, but are any of you also writing to your MP? It is the only way you will get anything done as volume of protest counts. By the way, night flights continue at EMA due BALPA input, plus or minus for that is personal, depends if you want to work for DHL or live on the approach!!
As to the simplistic remarks about mixing it with the Lords etc. Well I am certainly no royalist or the like. However, the laws of the land are made in Westminster. If you want to get your word in, it has to be done in those circles, it does not, I am afraid happen here, or in bars down route, though it might be easier for us to attend if it were, but it isn’t.
What now. Well, unlike the picture painted by some of thousands of potential Gen Secs, I suspect far fewer real ones exist. Even if a team manage to get one, two or more candidates, an election will be needed and then notice worked, so if we see another Gen Sec in under say 5 or 6 months we will be lucky. Before we start looking, we do need to decide what their role is and make it clear to all members what it is, so that no doubt exist in anyone’s mind just as to where responsibilities lie for any action or event.
TTFN
Martin Alder