Originally Posted by Vikz09

It appears to me that ALPA national hurries these negotiations for no other reason to restrict the amount of capital used in negotiations (the longer you spend in negotiations the larger the capital outlay). Negotiations are a expense/liability the end game is to increase revenue (union dues and minimizing the expense/liabilities increases profit margin... and alpa sure could use a increase in the coffers) Our union is run like a big business always trying to find ways to cut expense and increase revenue. Like it or not, ALPA is a big business and we at Delta are not getting our value from our investment dues. Does anybody know how much we provide Delta in dues vs. our direct benefit received? I would like to find the answer if anyone knows.

I was at American Eagle just after ALPA pushed for the 16 year contract with a no strike clause. Who the hell pushes that for their union constituents? At that point in 1999 I realized that it was a benefit to ALPA to continue charging you members 1.95% while limiting future costs. Every 4 years all eagle pilots received from ALPA was a limited list of 5 items that they would like improvements on. Of course with the no strike clause management really never negotiated with a sense of urgency, they held all the cards.