Originally Posted by
sailingfun
A single organization representing all pilots is illegal under the RLA act. That is why ALPA is a association. Each airline under ALPA functions as a independent union. It is also illegal under the RLA to try and work under one set of wage and work rules. Plumbers can do it but pilots can not. All pilots should read and understand the RLA. A attempt was made a few years ago to remove Fedex from the RLA because they don't belong there. This spooked Fred Smith so bad that he threatened to cancel every single Boeing order and buy all Airbus. He values the RLA so highly that he actually has a clause written into every Boeing purchase that the contract is void if the RLA is changed or Fedex removed from its protection. Boeing and the Senators from the states Boeing does business quickly killed the bill to pull Fedex from the RLA.
If this is correct, and for the sake of argument we will assume it is so, why haven't the associations acted to get out of the RLA or at least have it amended? People act like this law, written for the railroads in the late 1920's, is written in stone, or sent down from the Lord above, well it is not. All laws are amendable or can be abolished. Remember Prohibition? Unfortunately the RLA gives the associations’ credence and therefore justifies their current organization and therefore power in the profession. It has been to long since the associations put the welfare of the profession ahead of their own struggle for power and their very existence. Even a few simple amendments would help to level the playing field but when asked if ALPA was working to amend or abolish the RLA an ALPA official said” It isn’t even on our radar.”
The idea of an equal pay system, therefore equal labor costs across the industry, has been well received by airline managers at some of the leading legacy carriers. Just think of the savings when you no longer have to try to beat your competitor in labor costs plus if done as projected the contract could almost be perpetual, benefiting management and labor. It is time to think out of the box folks. Is the next generation so absorbed in Ipads and Facebook that they will let this once proud and profitable profession sink even further into the abyss?