The £1.5m is indeed based on a figure of TOTAL receipts, some of which are remitted to Unite who (I believe to be the case, though may be wrong) then passes a considerable proportion to The Labour Party.
I do not have any reference point to know for certain what actually goes to Unite and what is retained by BASSA. Hence the need to publish accounts.
I am in total agreement with your lower estimate being around £500,000, though given some people do seem to pay more than others, and BASSA membership is down some 5,000 people on its historic high water mark, BASSA seems to have been in receipt of between £500,000-£1m per annum for many years, even after its Unite contributions are accounted for.
The point is that BASSA has control of £1.5m income, and when such large sums are involved, even holding the monthly Unite portion on 30 day deposit yields significant interest.
£500k-£1m is still a considerable sum to have at anyone organisations disposal annually, and especially so as there is no way should be spending £500k on its members or administration.
If you'll forgive me, we have had chapter and verse on the BASSA accounts and while that was indeed food for thought during leaner times, I think there are more pressing and relevant matters to be debated this week.
Will BA move to make a slew of Pursers redundant, or is it prohibited from offering redundancy while Industrial Dispute is underway?
Is it true another BASSA rep has been suspended?
I think the Offer put to unite will not be materially different from the October 2010 submission:
http://uniteba.com/ESW/Files/151010_...llectivev6.doc