ALPA is not a UNION. Sorry if this upsets some of you but by its' own name it is an ASSOCIATION, a confederation if you will. A real union brings together those employed in the same craft, piloting commercial airliners, and ensures equal pay for equal work. By design ALPA creates conflict and dissention, pitting one pilot group against another. ALPA defenders will try to tell you how the system actually works, making it the perfect platform for "pattern bargaining" which will result in "jacking up the table" as each group negotiates a new contract. The only fly in this ointment has been deregulation which has provided management with the tools to cut the legs off the table, reducing pilot compensation and QOL. Please do not associate a real union with a national seniority list. An NSL is not necessary to have an effective UNION, and in fact would be impossible to establish among currently employed pilots so please do not use even bring it up. The bitterness, rancor and divisiveness that has been generated by this SLI process has been seen in every merger and will be revisited in the next one. With a real union this would not be such an issue. But don't let me be the one to state what is necessary, in 1990 Captain Hank Duffy, speaking as the outgoing ALPA president said, "I believe unequivocally that anything less than a strong centralized national union in today's environment is suicide for the profession and eventually for every pilot group." We were warned! The death spiral for our profession started over three decades ago and the turns seem to be getting tighter each year. You better pull out now, that is if it is not already to late.