Pilots’ leader Martin Chalk: ‘Balpa isn’t like the RMT’
The general secretary of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) is a reluctant sabre rattler. Having been steered away from flying warplanes as a youth in the RAF, Martin Chalk now finds himself having to prime his union’s main weapon in the direction of his former employer.
Balpa members at British Airways are angry – and a second pilots’ strike in three years could be on the cards. After stepping down from BA as a captain of the world’s biggest superjumbo, the A380, at the start of the pandemic, Chalk must now guide a new set of charges through more turbulence.
For Chalk, his job should be “much more of a secretary than a general”. After a year in post, he is learning fast about the hurdles put in the way of unions under labour laws – but says he would still step aside if he thought “a proper union person” could do better.
He admires the rail union leader Mick Lynch, but says: “Balpa is different.” Most of its 10,000 members are used to running their own show in the cockpit and, he adds: “Pilots don’t take kindly to being told how to do things.”
Industrial relations clearly frustrate him. “Our members are the longest-serving stakeholders in any airline,” he says. “They rarely leave – they are just as interested in long-term profitability as the company is. Chief executives and senior managers come and go.”
With the precise and measured tones of an ex-RAF and BA pilot – his Devon accent occasionally ringing through – Chalk admits he was the beneficiary of another era: he joined BA when its stable career progression and hierarchy
Age 57
Family Married since 1990, with two adult children.
Education Torquay Boys’ Grammar; military training in the RAF; later started studying for a master’s in human resource management at
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