News

News

NEWS Upfront The latest in aviation and industrial news from around the world READ MORE Acting Executive Presidents update Welcome to the autumn edition of The Log. As many of you will be acutely aware, BALPA has been in the press a lot lately perhaps more so than in recent memory. Feelings have been running high regarding our industrial activities in British Airways and Ryanair. Unsurprisingly, the media has cast us in a poor light. This is to be expected in an era when the headline is more important than the truth behind it. In these circumstances, it might be easy to forget that we are not just industrially focused. Our Flight Safety team is busy as ever and this feels like a good time to remind ourselves of its efforts. We do a huge amount of work in this area. Recently, we hosted a drugs and alcohol workshop in London to raise awareness of the new rules being introduced. As drug and alcohol testing regulations change, its also worth highlighting the risks associated with some over-the-counter medications, particularly if used in combination. These issues are explored by BALPA member and qualified pharmacist Lluis Vallverdu-Palau in his article. Finally, our Parliamentary Reception at the start of summer served to highlight the barriers to entry to our profession, of which there are many not least of which is cost. The reception was a great opportunity to highlight these challenges to MPs and peers. Our message was well received, and well be undertaking more work in this area. When the industrial dust begins to settle, we can get back to developing our relationships in the corridors of power and ensuring a fairer industry for all. Safe flying, Paul Naylor, BALPA NEC Acting Executive President and easyJet captain Parliamentary reception BALPA again took to Parliament to raise some issues important to our members with MPs and peers. The theme this year was barriers to entry, looking at the prohibitively high training costs, lack of diversity, and the issues of burnout and wellbeing. We believe that a combination of all these factors is dissuading many potentially talented pilots from joining the profession. Guests heard some real-life stories from some of our reps and had the chance to speak to BALPA NEC members. We also welcomed the then (see page 8) new aviation minister, Baroness Vere, whom we invited to speak. During her speech, she recognised the importance of ensuring that ability should be the only factor in choosing the next generation of pilots, and offered her full support to our Baby on Board campaign. British Airways strike action READ MORE Acting Executive Presidents update Industry snapshots 17 m Number of passengers who flew on 9th August, the busiest day worldwide for flights this year British Airways pilots voted in July in favour of industrial action. On a turnout of 90%, with 93% voting yes, the mandate from members was clear. Following a High Court case where British Airways tried and failed to injunct the strike action, we proceeded to set dates for 9th, 10th and 27th September. At the time of writing, we had carried out two days of successful strike action, with BA flights being almost completely grounded, and with the 27th date still set to go ahead. We tried to bring the company back to the table, contacting BA Chief Executive Alex Cruz directly, offering an olive branch to halt industrial action in the days leading up to the first round of strikes. We tried to compromise, amending our proposal which differed just 5m from BAs position (bearing in mind that it cost the company 40m per day of strike action). However, while British Airways continued to publicly state it was willing to talk, the airline did not indicate to us that it wanted to engage in further negotiations. Although there is still some way to go before this dispute is resolved, our pilots resolve is as clear as ever. We remain determined to reach an agreement with British Airways, but the tactics demonstrated so far by the company show no real willingness from its side to do so. We will keep members informed when there are any further developments. This news story was written on 10th September, at which point we had to send The Log to print. We appreciate there may have been further developments since the time of writing. Please take a look at our member communications for up-to-date details. Annual Delegates Conference The BALPA Annual Delegates Conference (ADC) 2019 is to be held on 8th and 9th November and, for the first time in some years, it will be in Manchester, which is also set to play host to the IFALPA 2021 conference. The ADC gives our reps the chance to discuss the topics most important to you our members and these discussions will help form BALPAs work for the next 12 months. We will also conduct BALPA business and host our annual Rep of the Year Awards. The awards give us a chance to show our gratitude to those reps who have gone above and beyond in helping their fellow workers, such as assisting in a disciplinary or grievance case, or advancing issues as a volunteer for one of the various specialist BALPA study groups. Ryanair strikes again 23/8/19 The busiest day for UK flights this year was 23rd August 30,000 Number of flights leaving the UK for Spain in July and August the most popular destination You will know that there has been a series of strikes in Ryanair. We balloted members in July, which saw a 72% turnout and an 80% yes vote. We initially set dates of 22nd and 23rd August, and 2nd to 4th September. As with British Airways, Ryanair also tried and failed to injunct the strike in the High Court. The airline also refused to join us at ACAS to try to find a resolution. As such, strike action went ahead. While the public was less impacted by this action, we believe that Ryanair was put under immense pressure and forced to spend time and money drafting in pilots from across Europe to ensure a full schedule. With Ryanair still refusing to come to a resolution, we were forced to add more dates to our strike action seven days in September (18th, 19th, 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th and 29th). At the time of writing we have still not had any indication from Ryanair that it is prepared to join us at talks. We will keep members informed when there are any developments. This story was written on 10th September, at which point we had to send The Log to print. We appreciate there may have been further developments since the time of writing. Please see member communications for up-to-date details. When the action in both British Airways and Ryanair has been resolved, we will bring you a more in-depth reflection of the industrial action in The Log. Who is the aviation minister this month? At the last Log Board meeting, we discussed a small article in our last edition (summer 2019) that introduced the new aviation minister, and we jokingly asked how long this one might be in post for. Well, we werent wrong to chuckle, given that in this edition we are indeed welcoming a new aviation minister. This time, its Paul Maynard MP, and we hope he will be in place long enough for us to speak to him properly about some of BALPAs work. Time will tell if this section becomes a regular feature.