Originally Posted by
baseball
Why?
I thought it was ALPA's role to make sure we had the right assets from the ALPA tool box. What does Pierce and Brucia really have to do with it? If Pierce and Brucia had any sort of poor strategy or position, would not ALPA have stepped in to insure that the CAL pilots were treated in a fair manner? I really placed my trust in the ALPA process and not so much people. I asked these questions about mergers to the ALPA reps who came to our crew rooms to push for ALPA back in 1999 and in 2000.
I have it on high authority that ALPA paid Katz and had to be approved by ALPA national. The CAL MEC doesn't actually have a checkbook and they have no authority to hire anyone. ALPA National must appropriate all legal expenses, so I disagree with your opinion. If katz wasn't good enough, ALPA national should have made sure he was. That's why I pay dues. I pay my dues to ALPA national, not the CAL MEC.
Your naivety on this is astounding. You really want ALPA National choosing the attorney and strategy for either or both sides in an adverserial arbitration? ALPA National formulated the merger policy. That's it. Each MEC chose not only their own merger committee, but their own strategy. ALPA National has no hand in any of that. Nor should they. The arbitration panel has nothing to do with ALPA National other than interpret and apply the letter (and arguably intent) of the merger policy as written. That one side completely disregarded the vast majority of the merger policy has nothing to do with ALPA National and nor should it.
Sure, you pay your dues to ALPA National, and part of those dues monies (not nearly enough if you ask me) comes back to the individual MEC to be used as seen fit by the MEC under the direction of the local councils and through elected representation, the pilots themselves. How could ALPA National have even known CAL's strategy before it was presented? No, if you feel wronged, look no further than your elected reps. They made those decisions.
Scott