Originally Posted by
Rama
Trying to make a single list/national union would look like the Usair/Cactus mess on steroids.
ALPA had an opportunity to get this done when they where the only union, aside from a relatively small APA at American prior to deregulation. ALPA was run by and for ex military pilots who had absolute contempt for the civilian pilot and no concept of what de-regulation was going to do to the industry. They failed to live up to the obligations of helping pilots from Braniff after the failure and Continental during the Lorrenzo /Continental strike and bankruptcy.
Now many view ALPA as the union of failed carriers with failed contracts. The only well compensated group of ALPA pilots are at FedEX and they keep kicking the can down the road waiting for the small independent union at UPS to come up with the next benchmark.
In the past the only time the national seniority list has come up is when the pilots at a failing carrier realize that they chose poorly and they may end up on the street and they want a way to jump the list.