Good point !

London Tube drivers have - rightly or wrongly - been able to reap the benefits brought about by what is widely seen as a ‘hardcore’ - aka highly successful - Union.

So much so, that many tube drivers can routinely earn significantly more than most newly-qualified airline pilots.

With due respect, I think that the question of whether informal and illegal closed shop practice is still in place at the Tube or whatever other sector of society is way OT and should really be discussed in some other part of FT (or more likely on some other website altogether).

There is no suggestion that BALPA or any other BA union is engaged in such practice, and in any case the practice is entirely unrelated to strikes in general or the current possible action in particular.

A member asked if unions did/could fire members if they did not join a strike when the union voted in favour of it, the answer on that is that they don't, that practice has been illegal for over 30 years, and if BALPA decides to implement the members' vote and propose strike dates, every BALPA member will be entirely free to decide whether they go on strike or not for some or all of the days of actions. BA will conversely be entitled to ask of individuals if they will join the strike or not and plan their operations accordingly. I think the original reference to closed shops meant to give a sense of timing and historical context which made sense but I suspect that was mostly intended as an informative parenthesis rather than suggestion to refocus the thread on unions past practices.

I think that the old closed shop practice was ghastly and if it still exists that frankly horrible, but in the context of the topic of this thread, it's really a bit of a red herring.