I do however believe in paying for benefits, so I'll continue to pay the union until the holiday pay case is concluded.
I take your point but what about the benefits BALPA will negotiate on our behalf in the future? Are you happy for the rest of the membership who keep on stumping up every month to pay for those on your behalf? Or is it a case of joining when there is jam on the table - genuine question by the way, these conversations are easier to conduct on such a forum, as on the flight deck/at the bar they are often avoided on CRM grounds!
At the risk of turning this into a hamster wheel type debate, my previous airline was littered with pilots who looked at what balpa was doing for them as individuals rather than what it was doing for us as a collective. They seemed indifferent to a union-less scenario where our management would impose changes rather than negotiate, and as a result union representation was far too weak and direction-less to make any real difference. BA remains the benchmark for pilot T&Cs in the UK because of the levels of membership within the ranks, not in spite of it, yet I hear the same arguments for membership resignation every time an important decision is made that individuals don't agree with. I understand that paying for union subscription when you are at odds with the direction being taken by its reps/membership is galling, but do those who sit outside the union really think we would be better off without collective representation? Have BA BALPA really got it that wrong?