It is true that the Association to which each pilot is a member is responsible for negotiating their pay and conditions. Nonetheless, both the ability to do this and success in the other roles of personal and professional representation are crucially dependent on the effectiveness of the "family" of cockpit crew Associations worldwide.

European pilot associations are facing growing difficulties in providing these core services to their members as challenges in Ryanair, EasyJet, British Airways, Iberia and many others bear witness. Later this month, the most comprehensive gathering of experience in pilot representation will take place in Mexico City. The 61st Annual IFALPA Conference is the forum for the world's Pilot Associations to agree policy on a wide range of technical, industrial and political questions facing our industry. But it is also a place for current challenges, successes and best practices to be shared; enabling all the world's Professional Pilot Associations to develop their knowledge and abilities to better serve their members. For ECA it is also an opportunity to ensure that the rest of the world understand the challenges we are facing in Europe as well as learn from other associations' experiences with similar problems.

Amongst those managements in Europe who wish to deny themselves the benefits of a social partnership approach, the current fashion seems to be the attempt to "divide and rule". There are current examples of companies trying to set up an "alter ego" airline, to split the pilot group in their airline or just use the variety of employment law around the European market to deny the fundamental benefits of collective representation. This negative management "fashion" is being aided and abetted by a lack of a coherent structure to EU employment law.

ECA will not stand by and allow these autocratic managements - which are fundamentally unsuited to our heavily customer service oriented industry - to succeed in putting the livelihoods of our members at risk. Instead we will support our members and engage with the other pilot associations around the world, other European industry groups (such as the European Trades Union Congress, the European Transport Workers Federation and European employers' Associations) and, if necessary, the media and general public to ensure that the European Union continues to develop the benefits of social partnership. There is a great deal of empirical evidence which supports the contention that effective industrial relations are based on thoughtful regulation which encourages a partnership approach and prevents anti-union management tactics.

In each ECA/IFALPA Member Association, in the international pilot associations, at the Mexico Conference and amongst the labour movement worldwide - the only effective response to such retrogressive development - is solid unity.