Originally Posted by
Sink r8
You can't ever the discount the possibility of a subordinate trying to supplant their own judgment to your instructions, can you? In which case, you just yank the leash back.
The fact that the MEC oversees the NC tells me that whatever is happening is happening with the MEC's consent. How could it not, especially considering they meet constantly. Conclusion: some of the MEC isn't happy, but they don't have the majority, so they blame others. The fact that it's been happening over, and over, and over, over a broad range of topics involving or not involving the NC, tells me it's a power struggle. Two sets of guys want to in charge, one set isn't getting their guys in successfully, within ALPA, or outside of it, so they set up these sorts of accounts to discredit their oponents. If they have to slaughter their own guys or a deal in the process, it's OK.
In parallel to this, there is a philosophical debate to be had over constructive engagement, concessions, etc. I think it's being overshadowed by the power struggle.
I think most everyone here is smart enough to see both things are going on, but most guys are afraid to separate the power struggle, from the legitimate debate, lest they be labelled.
What kind of legitimate debate do you expect when majority of our membership is given piecemeal information?
Good, reliable information warrants well-informed, coherent debate which leads to effective decision-making. However, we are constantly given vague updates from closed-door meetings held by our MEC, while being told not to pay attention to rumor or innuendo.
To name a few....
1. Survey Results (not published)
2. Contract Opener (vague)
3. Weekly Updates (vague and repetitive)
Rumor and innuendo, is basically all the line pilot has before being thrown a TA and told to get behind it. I've been making a conscience, effort on reaching out to my reps and usually the response is one of non-committal, agreement.
Sink, you write up a post like this after starting a thread saying that by discussing rumors we're are costing ourselves money through disunity, however the MEC and NC can engage in their "power struggle" at the expense of our 12,000+ pilots. Hypocrisy doesn't even begin to describe it. If you can't agree with that then I sincerely encourage you to do some soul searching to see which is more important, the union or our pilots.