Originally Posted by Timbo

Well, hind sight is always 20-20, but when the industry was deregulated in 1978, ALPA should have had a plan to deal with what was about to happen, yet they had none, which led to most of the stuff I listed above.

They have never said "NO" to management or the politicians in DC. They continually drew lines in the sand, then jumped over them, in a race to the bottom of our wages/benefits, yet never said, "Enough! We WILL NOT FLY ANOTHER AIRPLANE as long as Frank Lorenzo (and all the Frank follow-on's) are using the Bankruptcy Courts to gut our contracts.

There are only what, about 60,000 US Pilots who hold ATP's and are actively flying today? WE can, and should have, shut this thing down once it was clear the CEO's were all going to declare bankruptcy to gut our contracts and flush our retirements.

Just a couple years ago the pilots of the APA were told they too had to give up their retirement plans in bankruptcy... "Or Else!".

Guess what?

They kept them, and American survived.

Since de-regulation, ALPA National should have focused on bringing in all the other independent unions, to gain the necessary leverage to have a credible SOS threat, when the Lorenzo's started taking the industry apart.

Yes, the POTUS could order us back to work, and we could tell him to shove it.

Someone high up in ALPA might have to go to jail for a few days, but in the end, if you don't use your right to NOT work, well, then you get what we've gotten, a continual spiral to the bottom of pay/benefits, while the CEO's pay/benefits are always going up, up, up.

Dave Bhenke was not afraid of a political fight, that's how we got paid what we were worth 30+ years ago. The 'Leaders' we've had since then are only concerned with using the job as a stepping stone to their next gig, witness Randy Babbit, Dwane Worth, Lee Moak.

Not one of those tools took it upon themselves to show any strength or pushback as the industry used the courts to destroy our pay/benefits, and now that the industry is minting money, they bring us more Cost Neutral, non-restorative contracts.

I'm glad we (the collective we) are finally seeing the light. Who could have predicted the FAA and FAR 117 would turn out to be our best friend? (1500 hr. rule).

The Airline Pilot Shortage is finally here, the CEO's for the past 30 years caused it, and they can just as easily fix it. Throw money at it, return us to our pre-bankruptcy pay/benefits, and kids will once again be lining up for flying lessons.