Albief15

It also means a serious erosion in support for the future of our MEC if we don't tread very carefully.

I had a talk with an MEC rep two weeks ago about this very issue. If ALPA is going to "roll over" and say its enevitable, and provide a windfall for some captains, then we need to look at how our compensation package is structured. There are a lot of people who are going to take a career earnings hit on this, and perhaps one way to offset some of it is shrink the gap in pay between the left and right seat.

Now...I know the idea is blasphasmous in a lot of ways--but roll with this argument and hang with me a bit.

First--this is NO way diminshes the respect for the guy in the left seat who has the ultimate decision authority and responsibility. I'm a single seat guy--you don't have to explain to me the responsibility that goes with being captain of the vessel. Every guy on our property has been a captain somewhere.

However--there has been a very large earnings windfall for a select group of pilots--period. If that group chooses to patronize and say "well...seniority says I can do this....we've always done it this way....you'll get yours later...." AFTER winning the 5 bonus year lottery, they cannot help but expect some backlash. WHO is going to be be supporting ALPA in 2015? In 2020? In 2025? Who is going to fight (like our MEC did) to improve retiree care and post retirement benefits? If we do it right--it will be those junior guys who are now FOs. If we don't...division is going to take place on a level not seen since the first attempt to unionize.

If we don't find a way to soften the sting we just placed on about 52% (+/- 3 percent according to the email) of our dues paying members, then we have gutted our long term support for the short term gains. I am afraid that will come home to roost in support for future ALPA and MEC level issues.

I'm about 100 numbers from captain on the last bid. I don't think this change will keep me from "getting mine" if I want it. However--I want--and need--a strong union supporting our crew force five, ten, and fifteen years down the road. More than half of the crew force just got screwed. Sorry--that's life. We are big boys and understand the rules. However--if we are run roughshod over AFTER the legislation change and told "its for our own good" by our own union, you cannot but expect the junior pilots to eventually question what's in it for them, and are there other alternatives?

In my opinion, our next contract needs to address this by providing a larger gain for the right seat than the left. In other words--some of the "gains" of this windfall need to be passed down. Can it be equal? Probably not. However--grabbing a handful of cake off the table and refusing to even pass any crumbs to anyone else at dinner is not only bad form, it sows the seeds of revolution. We better find a way to at least share some of that cake or the natives will soon be at the door with torches and pitchforks.

...and for what its worth...I want to support the current team. However--I own a ranch and know how to use kerosene too. I like ALPA because ALPA is OUR union at the moment. However--I've still got my FPA pins, and my buddies who are teamsters, IPA, or SWAPA all have axes to grind with national. I hope we don't forget where we came from...