Originally Posted by lineplug

Ladies & Gents

We have a much larger problem than just cleaning house, which we must do. The root of our problem is a union that has lost its way. My evidence of this the fact that a significant majority of our union leadership, elected and otherwise, aggressively supported a TA rejected by 65% of our pilots. There is a glaring disconnect between our reps and those they are paid to represent. The question is why.

I think our union has become dominated by a culture of constructive engagement. Although constructive engagement can be a useful tool it should not be the guiding principle for a union. This union has effectively become an extension of management. I can't find another explanation for how they could be so out of touch with this pilot group.

To only remove the current leadership,however, would be like treating the symptoms of a disease while ignoring the disease itself. We must do both in order to change the course we have been on.

IMO we must two things moving forward if ALPA is to be salvaged. First, there must be a concrete commitment to transparency by the new leadership. Transparency, at a minimum, means releasing the survey results and publishing the full DALPA budget. There can be no accountability without transparency. And before someone tries it - publishing FPL list or telling members they can contact the treasurer to see the books is absolute BS. We need real transparency. We must demand it.

Second, we must choose new leaders who are committed to changing the culture of this union. Our union is paid to represent us, not the company. The constructive engagement concept has led us down a path where our union is way too close to management . This TA was the natural result of that concept. I'm not saying that we need to be unnecessarily adversarial but the pendulum has swung too far in one direction and we need to rebalance. Constructive engagement is one tool among many that out union should be using, but it cannot a guiding principle.

I am very concerned that our union's efforts to sell this TA may have crippled us if these negotiations actually get to the NMB. Does anyone doubt that all of the products DALPA has put out over the last month will be used against us. The company will use everyone of those documents as well as MD's words to prove what a great offer we turned down. This is just another reason why the current leadership structure must go. We have to distance ourselves from everything connected to this TA. If these people have any dignity or honor they will resign and save us the divisive process of removing them.