I understand your frustration, Shaggy. However, the point seems all but forgotten that the reason the FQM structure exists today is because the IPA completely abandoned Rob Dorsey and sided 100% with UPS in its opinion that the existing FQM structure should remain, and management pilots should not be integrated into the IPA. It was this position taken by the IPA that sealed Dorsey’s fate, and reinforced the FQM structure to the extent that it would be nearly impossible to ever dismantle.

Do you ever wonder why the IPA, during the recent integration attempt, didn't choose to simply have the courts force the integration based on Class and Craft, rather than pursue the "card count"? The answer is because the IPA had gone to extraordinary lengths to argue the exact opposite position on Class and Craft to the court, in order to prevent an integration, during the Dorsey case (Yes, the Dorsey suit was also against the IPA). It was largely the IPA's testimony against integration that resulted in Dorsey losing the original lawsuit. Rob eventually prevailed after taking his case to the appellate court, despite the astonishing position against integration taken by the IPA. Rob may have won a settlement, but he lost a career. What the IPA lost in its refusal to welcome the integration seems far greater.

Dorsey expected many hurdles, but opposition from the IPA certainly wasn't one of them. There’s no denying that it was the IPA’s bewildering decision to stand side by side with UPS against Dorsey and the management pilots that resulted in the airline structure that continues to exist. Sure, there will be many who simply brush this aside and say, “that was then, and this is now”. The problem is that erasing this piece of history is not that simple. The actions of the founding IPA leadership created a monumental mess that will now be exponentially more difficult for the current leadership to clean up.

I don't expect this to change your opinion of FQMs, any more than the opinions of those FQMs who stood with Dorsey can be changed with respect to the way they were abandoned by the founding leadership of the IPA.