As Mr B / Count VA have alluded to;- at bmi, as part of a multi-year pay deal in 2004/5 it was
agreed that there would be salary negotiations to determine the remuneration levels for the final year of that pay deal.
Come the final year-
no negotiation on the part of the airline
("there's no money left") Following a vote circa 90% in favour of action, BALPA were "shown the books", renegotiated & recommended to the pilots that we accept a new (not very different) "offer". Cue vote for acceptance & a 51% vs. 49% result in favour of new offer - which was a deal for a very modest increase; something like RPI + 1.5%, move up one increment on the scales, and at least RPI in the final (3rd) year.
A week later the company posts a £30M profit.
Come the final year of the above deal, following assurances by the CEO in December 2008 that "the RPI increase would be
honoured", in the week that the increase was to take place, many pilots (myself included) had increased salaries withdrawn from our bank accounts & re-credited with a non-increased salary a few days later. ("there's no money left")
Said CEO then has the audacity to answer questions on BBC's programme "Working Lunch" saying that he never took money from anyone's account (sure- he didn't, but the payroll firm employed by him certainly did- on someone's orders)
In the same year (2009) that all the pilots had an enforced pay freeze (which, incidentally still extends to today & will the way things are looking turn out to be a 3 year one) - it turns out that the guy that told us there was no money left allegedly
awarded himself a 300% pay rise taking his salary to £1.5M just before he buggered off, no doubt also enhancing his pension in the process just as our FS pension was closed.
I know this post is slightly off-thread, but it demonstrates the kind of people that are running the airlines today;
The guys on the CC are pilots, not accountants- I have to say that I'm sure if I were shown a set of figures that indicated a poor financial position, I wouldn't know whether they were truthful or total BS. What level of accountancy skills do the guys at big BALPA have when analysing the data the company puts before them? Moreover, would it be possible for someone with the right skills to spot a bit of creative accountancy by the airlines?
For all the money that BALPA receives, is the weak link the lack of ability of the union to spot that you're being sold down the river come negotiating time?
I'm not knocking any of the CCs, merely suggesting that at a national level there might be a lack of ability to counter the (obviously) very skilful, and (definitely) very devious practices by some (or most) of those running the airlines. (BTW I'm still a member of BALPA- living in hope).