Originally Posted by
brakechatter
Hi Sailor,
My "agenda" is very simple: Represent the will of the Delta pilots, while giving them their greatest opportunities to keep safe, secure, and home to their families after work. My personal vote was no on the contract. I threw it out there not to reflect my vote, but to embolden and underscore the part that says our contract is emplaced and it is time to move on to the next deal. While doing this, we need to keep our in house issues tidy and working for the pilots. Others call that picking at lint in your navel, and I disagree. My feelings are that we are not doing a good job of certain things, and it is reflected in the communication, or lack thereof, emanating from our leadership. You'd think, judging from the posters coming out of the woodwork, that some of us are looking to burn the place down. Nothing could be further from the truth. ALPA is a bottom-up organization, and some of us have seen examples of not honoring that intended path.
I am not sure what you mean about the will of ALPA not being correct, nor how everyone you have flown with is not unhappy with the contract, yet we are still at a 70/30 split. Feel free to explain or give me a shout if you wish. I am about to head north again, in an attempt to figure out these antiquated round guages for another week, so my allotted time on here will be nil. I will be on my phone, though.
I guess my only concern is this: What gives you the credibility or knowledge to speak for every pilot in your council? Are you doing demographic based studies, or are you listening to the loudest voices in the crew room? Are you an advocate of formal polling? How exactly do you represent the will of the pilots when clearly your will (as a no voter) is not indicative of the statistical reality? Have you stopped to think that maybe the representatives currently in place have it right, and you are only imagining that we aren't doing well at certain things?
I only bring this up as a matter of internal reflection. It's easy to see one side of the coin but takes effort to look at the other side. Our management team runs circles around ALPA in terms of communication, support, and assistance to the line pilot. When I got my new hire briefing I was mortified by the entire thing - and I don't speak as an outsider. I was deeply entrenched in ALPA at one point. I know how the system works. So if your plan is to communicate for the sake of hearing yourself talk, then great. You may be the only one listening. Of course until someone gets violated, investigated for sick leave abuse, etc etc etc. You know - the things that make a pilot suddenly glad to have a union that knows its place.