I definitely see the need for a bonified union at SKW, but not ALPA.
ALPA serves in this order:
1. Themselves
2. Large Carriers
3. Small Carriers

ALPA at regionals is a conflict of interest. Higher pay scales on our end translate to higher costs for the majors which is not benificial for the legacy pilots that are still waiting for financial health in their airlines. Nobody is perfect, certainly not ALPA, but in this case its easy to see why they don't do much for regionals. Prater seems like a legitimate guy albeit still a politician. He, like most elected representatives, serves the interests of the financial majority. Not only do the five ALPA legacy carriers make up almost 25,000 ALPA members (which is almost twice that all the ALPA carriers that fly 70 seat and under) but those guys on average make at least twice what we do. Its not hard to see why ALPA will serve their interests before ours.