Originally Posted by
alfaromeo
The reason that people are pointing out the failures of Seham is that he seems to have one talent: putting out divisive propaganda to divide pilots and decertify unions. After that, he seems incapable of delivering any results that actually benefit the pilots. USAPA has almost 4 years of Seham-inspired strategy and they have gotten nothing for pilots except large legal bills. Meanwhile, the impotent ALPA folks at Delta have delivered an average 25% pay rate increase along with hundreds of millions of merger stock. Let's see Billions in contractual increases versus huge legal bills and no contractual benefits. What would I pick?
I see Seham as a charmer that can convince uncertain pilots to follow him down a path where he makes a ton of money and the pilots get bupkus. Kind of like Bernie Madoff convincing people he could guarantee 25% returns per year and instead he stole their money.
If you give ALPA an F for the last four years, Seham and USAPA get a Z--------------. However you want to score it, Seham fails labor group after labor group. And now DPA is the next victim to fall for his charm offensive. No thanks. I don't want to be like USAPA and end up 4 years from now looking for a new attorney and some way to pay up our massive legal bills. Oh and not a penny of benefit for pilots.
Excellent points, however in all fairness what is the base line for that 25% pay raise? Recovery from a 50% paycut means we are only -25% from salaries of 10 years ago. Wu-hu. Confetti and a ticker tape parade for us.
How about career progression? How many jobs have been added at DAL/NWA in the last ten years versus the carriers we outsource our flying to?
Don't get me wrong - I think an independent union would have been even less effective, and would be far worse going forward, but waxing poetic about ALPA's accomplishments? Puleeze.....
On the same note, I think some of USAPA's failure is as much driven by circumstances beyond their reasonable control as were our failures of the last decade. I imagine had we had an arbitrators seniority decision similar to the USAirways one we'd be every it as dysfunctional as they are.
Glass houses and all that........
I think many are pragmatic about the external realities surrounding both, the difference is many are sick of ALPA's arrogance and dogma when the realities are far more blurred.
Pilots are way smarter than to bite at the us/them, black/white, good/evil spin, and insulting their intelligence with those tactics is backfiring.