Litebulbs
You've hit the nail on the head!
The Bassa members are happy because they have no knowledge of how their money is being used and probably assume there is a huge fund built up to wage war on their behalfs.
The Bassa officers are happy either because they love their roles and get immense satisfaction fighting BA on behalf of their members or because they are being looked after very well financially.
If the Branch accounts were made openly available, there would remain no doubts about how the members money is being spent.
No one would worry if union officials took a "fair" payment for the time they actually spend on Union business or if they were reimbursed for justified "out of pocket expenses" incurred. Likewise there could be no suspicions that anything underhand was going on.
A continued silence can only provoke and amplify the doubts many are having. Irrespective of what Bassa are legally required to do regarding requests for accounting information, now is the time that a fearless union should publish the figures to stop the questions.
All the while that doubt hangs over the unions probiety, the membership will leak away and will distract people from understanding exactly what is the Union are protecting its members from. Frankly, I doubt many people have a clue what the disbute is now about, and even fewer have any idea what Bassa want to achieve settlement.