Originally Posted by Boondocker
In fact, by accepting the status quo for all these years almost all the remaining membership, some 10000, apart from the true die-hards who wouldn't have it any other way, need to accept responsibility for where we find ourselves today.
Agree entirely with this.
When I joined BA I immediately joined Bassa, too. And I attended, until last year, almost every single Bassa meeting. I'd request days off, take leave days and I'd fly down from Aberdeen just to attend.
I'd be one among 25-30 regulars.
Then, when things started hitting the fan and our terms were in jeopardy, everyone started coming out of the woodwork. We'd get a thousand or more people at the really important meetings while, almost immediately after things had calmed down, attendance figures dropped way back again (although not to the 25-30 level - I remember once failing to get a quorum!)
Walsh has every reason to believe that this isn't really a strong union because people only pop up when something seems to impact
them. They tend not to be interested the rest of the time.
Had 1,000+ people attended every meeting every time (very possible), Mr. Walsh may well have been more dubious about being so steadfast in his position.