Originally Posted by Bucking Bar

FTB,

Bill Swelbar has my respect, although he lags many of us by six months to a year in his published findings. Bill Swelbar was one of the first "authoritative" sources who documented ALPA's involvement in the selling of scope (bargaining capitol). At that time such a statement was highly controversial (yet true & I had been making that point based on ALPA's own publications for years).

Back then (early 2010) Bill's opinion was that unions had learned their lesson and would not repeat the errors of the earlier decade. I (for one) wrote him, saying that while I hoped he was correct, several of his own data points were not in agreement with his own conclusions:

• ALPA's politics have not changed. The union members maintain an obsolete view of mainline flying which was the product of vastly different revenue and cost structures.
• To maintain a pre-deregulation fantasy career, ALPA has systematically sold off assets which harm its ability to negotiate future contracts. The greatest, of course, is scope.
• If Bill needed an example, he need look no further than the Delta MEC's handling of Compass.
• Economically, a "just say no" platform was not viable as a result of the effect of other stakeholders who would assert their interests.

Now Swelbar sounds as if he has been enjoying meals with Lee Moak.

Bill's mistake now, is that he assumes outsourcing is necessary to operate a small jet at reasonable cost. He also assumes that ALPA remains intransigent on small jet operating numbers. ALPA will also need to embrace other stakeholders as a matter of economic pragmatism. (pilots operating across certificates using one seniority number)