Truth is
Truth is that as a First Officer in his/her first year of BALPA membership you benefit from a discounted membership rate. I recall paying about £12 a month, in the second year you pay about £25 a month. the Flybe salaries are so low that the BALPA subsciption being based on a % of salary makes it cheap to join.
Now if any FO says they can't afford £12 a month I'm afraid I don't believe them. This is a point of principle. All of us moan and complain about being shafted and suffering exploitative terms and conditions - especially wrt rostering. Either join BALPA and supporth them now to get the situation changed or forever accept what Jim and the Executive dish out.
In my mind the situation is quite clear, a strong vote for industrial action will for sure either:
1. Bring management to the table for serious negotiation or
2. Lead to a strike which will eventually lead to serious improvements in pay and conditions.
I'd guarantee either way you'll benefit to the tune of more than £12 a month.
The thing to remember is that the management and owners are greedy. They want to float, get millions in bonuses and run away. Jim alone has 9% of the company and if it floats at £250 million ish which is what the Sunday Times indicates it's worth, he stands to net over £20 million. Quite honestly that is a huge incentive to cut and run and not give a stuff about the employees.
Conversely BALPA is in the best possible position to leverage gains because the one thing that will seriously worry investors and the city is a disgruntled and striking workforce and all the negative press and loss of bookings this will cause. For once the ball might actually be on our foot.
Finally, like everyone I meet on the line I don't particularly want all this aggro. I just want to do my job, feel respected and decently remunerated and be fairly treated. It's a great disappointment to me that management have so far refused to negotiate seriously with BALPA. In light of this I feel there is no alternative but to support BALPA.
Desk-pilot