But what annoys me more are the Pilots who leave BALPA, stop thier contributions, but when the next tax-free allowances or pay scales are negotiated by BALPA, the reward is passed on to them anyway!
This has long been a problem for unions in general, because the member did not get the service they thought they should they leave the union. In fairness, sometimes it is warranted as the branch they are a member of is run badly and I can see their point of view, I have had this within my own union due to an elected officer hitting the bottle and wanting an easy life. The answer to this may be to highlight it to the branch secretary but 1) It may take several failures by the officer for it to be an issue 2) My problem is immediate and needs dealing with in a professional manner NOW.
Had the problem been of sufficient magnitude to lead to dismissal the failure would have been picked up at some point but not before I had suffered considerable anguish. I chose to stay in the union and all is fine now.
The problem within BALPA as I see it from what limited knowledge I have is that your T&Cs are not negotiated across the board with each company setting their own, also different disciplinary procedures between airlines. This brings about greater reliance on the local rep who may think they know it all but have no legal background. It is up to MEMBERS to come forward to fill these positions but all unions struggle to find people who will put the effort in.
Meanwhile, the non-members will make 'noises off' about how little the union has done for them and generally spreading dissent/poison against the union while enjoying the pay the union has negotiated (that is within those with recognition).
If I am to believe some of the posts I read on here BALPA is a broken tool but the gripes tend to be non specific and drawn from experience of several years ago or what happened to someone else, they may also be due to inflated expectation.
As an example of that expectation I see things posted about P2F, a despicable money grubbing scheme by airlines, but NO union could change this as it is perfectly legal, it may be having a terrible effect on some of you guys but it is at a political level that this will be changed, probably European. So BALPA is the wrong target.
Perhaps this is an example of the arguments any proponent of the union should be rehearsing. Perhaps the union should be briefing its reps on this kind of argument.
Just my 2p worth.