BALPA just a joke
BALPA is just a joke !
A great cash grabbing machine, a great marketing machine, a great machine for creating division amongst pilots but for actually getting anything positive done be would be really grateful if someone could step forward with some examples.
Do the maths : lets take say a charter outfit with say 400 pilots lets say circa 80% are in BALPA and lets say the average pilot wage in this outfit is paid £50,000. Then based on these numbers the BALPA fees total up to massive £160,000 per annum.
Yes thats right a massive fee income of £160,000.
But what do the Comrades flying the line get in return for this massive fee of £160,000.
Do they get a full time professional representative ? No
Do they get negotiators ? No
Do they get access to an employment lawyer if needed ? No
Do they get a kick in teeth from BALPA if something goes wrong and the need help ? Yes you bet they do.
BALPA runs from responsibility quicker than a Government ditches its manifesto.
What happens is for £160,000 you get a self help company council composed of the well intentioned, the willing and the concerned but these kindly souls often have little or no training or experiance in employemnt law, and often little or no negotiating or exposure to modern management practice.
Its like paying the council to empty the bins then being asked to drive the truck and do the bin round yourself. Or quite literally paying the barrister £160,000 and finding that that on the day of the trial you can represent yourself.
BALPA is a rip off and it's a complete nonsense.
Lets ditch the muppets BALPA and form a real Union.