John_Smith is spot on !
We can big ourselves up , the reality is the company can replace us tomorrow with someone willing to take less for it & subsequently they will be pushed out by the next bloke who wants to walk around with more stripes on his shoulder & willing to do so on a lesser contract.
We can tell ourselves we can do the job better but the reality is the equiptment is so stable & reliable these days , most inexperienced guys can do a pretty good job too .
As others have said , Balpa have let us all down , they've been taking our money for a long time & doing nothing for the long term stability of our industry.
I don't think the GMC would've sat around as those idiots at Balpa have done ! Maybe it's time we all told Balpa to get their finger out or we'll be moving to a Union who is willing to do something about the realities of the industry rather than bang on about crew food ................