Get on to BALPA and tell them what you want them to do. You pay the fee, so you call the shots. If they don't represent your views, and your ambitions as pilots tell them that you will resign from them, and do it. Then go and join an organisation that gives a shiit what you think. Do it individually, block the e-mail server, and the telephone switchboards, and stop feeling sorry for yourselves.
That sounds like wonderful advice but it's not practical at all.
- If one shouts and screams at BALPA, threatens to leave and then does, exactly who else do you think is out there that CAN and WILL give a **** as you say? There's not exactly an abundance of reputable, large union-type organisations we can turn to and/or play off one another...
- As for engaging in criminal activity such as blocking email servers and telephone switchboards, how exactly does that help? Is it worth pissing a company and/or the police off when a clean slate is absolutely essential?!
No, I'm afraid you're on the wrong track. T&C's have degraded as a result of changing market conditions, profiteering by ruthless operators and desperate wannabe's who either have or have not the funds with which to sponsor these PTF schemes.
The only viable proposition (and one which I read elsewhere not so long ago) is to take this matter to your local councillor and make enough of an issue out of it. Get them onboard such that it's raised by MP's which, ultimately, forces governments to step in and stop these dangerous trends. Believe it or not, it's not that difficult, all we have to do is highlight the safety issue - not for us, but for passengers. Of course it benefits us too, but it may just be the spin that's needed to start the ball rolling.
Aviation represents a major part of the UK (and other countries) economies. Here's an illustration:
http://www.oef.com/Free/pdfs/Aviation2006Final.pdf
Dreams of training companies reversing to old ways and unions forcing sweeping changes will simply not come about. They are understandably saying they are simply driven by airline employers. They have to work with them, not against. Only governments have the right and power to shout the odds.
Why else do you think Ryanair pulled out of more Boeing orders not so long ago? Only because they couldn't get the ridiculous leasing rates they did after Sept 11, 2001. Boeing and the industry in general were desperate for sales then - MOL hammered home a 10 year deal which secured them enormous profit margins as a result. What did he do recently when they said no to silly requests? Walked off sprouting rhetoric, claiming he's happy to
perhaps re-engage them in the future but only on his T&C's. In the meantime, he'll bolster shareholders confidence in his airline by delivering large, short term bonuses whilst he doesn't continue to place orders for more aircraft. He's not a genuis as some people claim, he's just savvy. He's a greedy, little man who looks at trends and makes the most of them.
I'm afraid, we're in an, arguably, even worse position after the recent global financial crisis... and who do you think will seek to exploit that?