Originally Posted by
DAL 88 Driver
I agree. BTW, thanks for your service.
As to the indifference you've experienced, here's what I think a lot of it is attributable to. When DALPA allowed our pay to be cut by a total of 42% and allowed thousands of our jobs to be outsourced, I think a lot of folks (including myself) lost significant confidence in them. (Yeah, I know, we voted for it. But DALPA pushed it and sold it extremely hard.) Then, when Delta came out of bankruptcy, and DALPA showed no plan or even an expectation for restoration, I think a lot of folks (including myself) lost even more confidence in them. Now, we have gone almost HALF A DECADE and STILL no plan or even expectation for restoration. My confidence in DALPA at this point is basically zero. In fact, my voting reps are so "in the tank" with low expectations that I've completely disengaged from providing input to them.
Now, I submitted my survey very early on in the process. I'm just not one to give up completely... and in the grand scheme of things, the survey just didn't take that much of my time. But I think what you're seeing is a lot of guys who have given up completely and they just don't care anymore. Certainly, some of the fault lies with those individuals. But I attribute the greatest amount of the fault to a lack of direction and inappropriate leadership from DALPA. If DALPA had made our objectives clear from the start (and those objectives didn't include accepting what we have now as a new baseline), I'm 99.99% sure we would be seeing a much higher participation rate in this survey. Anyway, just my "2 cents"...
This defeatist, poor-me mentality is exactly what's going to get us a crappy contract. We need to stop moping and blaming someone else for what's gone wrong in the past decade. ALPA certainly had a hand in it, but there were quite a few outside forces influencing the process as well.
Now we finally have an opportunity to alter our course, and a large portion of the pilot group can't even be bothered to spend a few minutes filling out a survey!
The company is making money hand over fist and knows that we expect significant recognition in this next contract. If we're too weak, stupid or lazy to ask for it then we'll have no one to blame but ourselves. The laundry list of BS reasons for not getting on board and pulling in the same direction is just that, BS.
Even if you're the staunchest DPA supporter out there, hedge your bets. Continue to provide at least the minimum required participation (like filling out WHAT YOU WANT) while trying to create a better alternative union. I'm fine with that, but don't just give up. For better or worse, our cart is tied to ALPA for now, and our success and paychecks will depend on how well ALPA can do. You never know, they may actually achieve the unthinkable (in the DPA crowd's vision) and help us negotiate an industry leading contract. One thing is for certain though: Without some minimum participation from the pilot group, ALPA will not have the leverage to achieve what guys supposedly want (but apparently aren't willing to get off the couch for.)
**This rant was in no way directed at you 88. I admire your continuous beating of the restoration drum and just happpened to quote your post that was referencing the rampant apathy.