1. Protecting your job
2013 is going to be a tough year for negotiations and in a number of companies job threats are high on the agenda. BALPA has navigated years like this before and learning from them we are targeting more resource and drawing in more expertise in 2013 to protect jobs, secure fair pay increases and keep pushing pensions firmly up the agenda.
2. A profession to be proud of
The growing casualisation of the flightdeck not only heaps problems on the shoulders of individual pilots it damages the profession as a whole and weakens our ability to protect jobs and leverage improved terms. We have started the fight back in the BALPA-recognised airline where it is most prevalent - easyJet. We will strangle its growth elsewhere and work with others to put Ryanair under scrutiny. We will bring the issue to the attention of the public,
as we sought to do over Christmas. We will help pilots employed by the likes of CTC and Parc to organise resistance and challenge their ‘employer’ using the law. We will continue to spell out to would-be pilots what they are
letting themselves if for. We will raise the flight safety risks in a professional manner with our own regulator and with EASA and ICAO. And we will work with any interested parties to get a more civilised approach to pilot training and careers. You can help by joining in the debate on our Facebook page –
www.facebook.com/BALPApilots
3. Continuing the fatigue battle
We will continue to wage the war to secure scientifically-based Flight Time Limitations and regulations for the UK. We have battled on this for many years and will open new fronts in 2013 by targeting the European Parliament and engaging the law in the UK and European courts. Our objective is to use all weapons at our disposal,
including the media, to improve the EASA rules and push for UK specific ‘safety enhancements’ to fill the remaining holes. But the battle does not end there – not by a long way. We will shine a light on the growing inadequacy of UK regulation where hard numbers are being replaced by soft safety management ‘systems’ that promise much but ultimately serve to manage ‘blame’ rather than ‘risk’. Our objective is to expose the way modern management undermines the important “human factors” that are the bedrock of safety. BALPA will challenge regulatory inadequacy and be a leader in highlighting deficiencies in systems such as FRMS
4. Tackling security frustrations head on
An issue which persistently irritates members is the frustration of security. The practices are costly, disproportionate and belittling. The time has come to deal with this issue head-on. Our objective is to regain ‘trust’ for pilots in the restricted zone which means ‘light touch’ security and easy transit between zones. We aim to develop a crewpass policy, akin to that now being successfully introduced in the States, and secure support for the concept from UK airports, airlines and regulators as a prelude to building a coalition that Government would struggle to ignore.