Originally Posted by
Carl Spackler
Nobody's ever said they don't pay their lawyers top dollar. I'm sure they do - especially if they're worth it.
That's probably right. That's not where any savings would come from. Savings would come from changing our current model...which is that we Delta pilots get back less than 40% of our dues money from ALPA. That's the problem.
So far no one with an icky green tag has been able to prove to me what that means. A third of our dues comes back as direct operating cash for the MEC. The other thirds fund all the things we use. The LEC budget that pays for the office and secretary in DTW (example) comes from this "other two thirds." Aeromedical, Safety, Security and all that other stuff that, apparently, no one ever uses comes from that two thirds. The ALPA office in ATL and the previous one in MSP are paid for out of that national budget, not the MEC budget. So, yes, it does come back to us. Maybe not every penny in a straight line from the bank but we use a lot more of that "remaining" money than you give credit for. Is it a full 60% return, who knows? The DPA isn't offering a 60% reduction in dues, so there must be a catch in paying for all these services.
Three reps in DTW. Three cell phones. Three cell phone bills. Three computers. An office with equipment and a secretary (who makes $35,470 BTW). All of that goes to the Herndon office from our dues and then straight to Council 20. How does that
not come back to us?
The pilots will get that money because they won't have given it to a national union that gives them less than 40% of it back. If Delta pilots need more for their specific representational needs, our union can ask for more knowing that it will only be used for Delta pilots...not to prop up the unions of our regional direct competitors.
Carl
Voodoo math. The DPA's own website shows that the amount a Delta pilot shares with
all the ALPA carriers is around 16%*. The amount you spend out of pocket in an entire year is less than you spend on beer on one good night in RJAA. ($57.41)
*More than 16% (approx. $689,000 in 2010) of the MEC’s account allocation for operating income is redistributed to smaller ALPA carriers. <It should read...is available to ALL ALPA carriers.>
I dispute that you know how much of your $57.41 goes to help a pilot at Comair vs a pilot at United. United seems to have used a lot out of the Contingency Fund. How much of your personal $57.41 went to United if they borrowed a few million? Maybe the FedEx pilots are tired of subsidizing us?
I agree that it's likely that you have helped another pilot some time in your life, but that should be a good thing...