The 2008 BALPA Annual Report has been published and is being sent to every member. It highlights what BALPA has been doing to protect pilots' jobs and the piloting profession. But what challenges does 2009 hold? Here BALPA General Secretary, Jim McAuslan, outlines 5 key themes for the year ahead.

1. The economic environment
2008 has ended on a tough economic note which shows all the signs of running throughout 2009. Burying our heads in the sand won’t do, which is why BALPA has been gearing itself up to tackle this with the production of a toolkit for representatives entitled ‘Rising to the Challenge’. The full toolkit is available for representatives and contains the following elements:

• Pressure testing the employers’ claims with independent financial analysis of the company’s performance and cash position and advice from investment analysts on the steps being proposed.

• Prioritising our agenda so that we get the right balance between the size of the workforce, members’ terms and conditions and working practices. There can be a trade off between jobs, conditions and practices and BALPA can look at the permutations.

• Exploring members’ views on the options and their willingness to engage in changes. As well as listening we keep members and their families in the picture with support in communications, crew room visits and surgeries

• Making sure that everything is legal

• Strengthening our membership numbers – the better the membership the more attention employers have to pay to our views; it keeps them on their toes and ensures they don’t try and take the quick fix.

• Strengthening our representatives and staff with training and knowledge and sharing the experience that BALPA has gained is crucial to protecting members.

• Supporting individual members through changes with independent support and guidance and counselling.

2. The international environment
Members’ jobs are no longer dictated by the UK coast line and are shaped by international conventions that are increasingly liberal and a flow of capital that is no respecter of national boundaries. The experience of the Merchant Navy is salutary – allowing employers to establish themselves in areas of the world that are less regulated, less taxed and with fewer employment rights led to Flags of Convenience shipping lines. And our experience in the High Court over OpenSkies has revealed in stark terms that the law is badly stacked against employees.

BALPA is:

• challenging international bodies (including the International Labour Organisation set up by UN) to secure a more even-handed approach to the increasingly unfair employment law

• working with other pilot Associations to provide a seamless service to members employed in transnational companies and

• looking at how unions representing flight crew can better share resources and campaigning activities to respond to employers.

3. The UK political scene
Whilst needing to operate at an international level, BALPA also has plenty to do to at home. The environmental debate is still in danger of being one-sided with too few prepared to challenge the argument that aviation is the number one cause of environment damage. There is a real risk that aviation will be throttled through an absence of infrastructure and runway capacity leading to fewer jobs in the UK and more in mainland Europe. BALPA is strengthening its ability to respond to this challenge and will also be looking for a new President to succeed the long serving Lord Clinton Davis who, having just celebrated his 80th birthday, has expressed a wish to stand down whilst continuing to fulfil an advisory role.

4. The everyday experience of pilots
For all we secure at national level or the terms and conditions we negotiate with employers, much of a pilot’s day-to-day experience is governed by local conditions. The accessibility of car parking that is close to the Report, the way in which the security regime operates at airports, the regard in which pilots are held by employers and communities all go to shape the quality of work and of life. A key challenge for BALPA is to get more leverage at this level.

5. BALPA’s own performance can always be improved
We aim to support members with good quality legal advice, be ahead of the game in how members are taxed and provide access to reliable data and advice. We will aim to secure better time off arrangements for representatives and ensure that they and staff are well trained. We are also reviewing our structures to improve the union’s democracy and bringing the democratic structures nearer to members – a membership ballot on rule changes to achieve that is due early in 2009. 

And all of this must be delivered to the same professional standards that are expected of each and every member fulfilling their role as a pilot. The values of transparency, honesty, professionalism, technical skill and selfless dedication that mark out the piloting profession must be the same value set that BALPA lives by.

Jim McAuslan
General Secretary