Instead of political theory lets focus on practical application in the mixed pilot culture we have at FDX. Scattered among the "good guys" we have non-members hired since the late '90s. These guys are hardcore ME ME ME with no sense of fraternity that you and I take for granted. IMHO, that had to stop. If we can stop one more new guy from buying a sports car with his dues money it was worth it.

I don't want to see folks quit in their last year to shield their paycheck either. Or quit because their panties are in a wad about whatever pet issue. That seems to be popular in modern politics and is disgraceful. It's cancerous to ANY union that may represent us. Agency shop protects us from freeloaders and hot heads.

We have a lot of guys who think of themselves as private contractors but most now grudgingly pay dues. You know, some of the guys who protected carryover when line averages were cut and were happy their 777 and 757 lines were 25 hours more than A300 and 727. Some of them are almost totally oblivious to everyone around them. They couldn't even spell 4a2b. But they know how to spell VEBA and retroactive age 65. Those are the guys ALL OF US need protection from with agency shop.