Originally Posted by
Gunter
Quite frankly, you come accross as a bitter, depressed individual. You sound like you would rather be anywhere else but in the job you are in now. Perhaps it is you who could use some expert advice.
This is actually a fair comment. It is inaccurate, but fair, if that is the way I appear to you. In reality, I was born with happy genes and I thoroughly enjoy putting ideas out there for discussion. I do not take anything personally here. To me, I am writing to cardboard cutouts because almost no one puts their name on their posts. So, I am making generalizations, not talking to anyone specifically.
I have learned through years of experience and involvement that pilots like to ignore reality and put their heads in the sand at the first sight of conflict. What I am putting out is the reality of the situation. It is not good and we need to fix it. You and me. As I have mentioned, the LEC process does not work in these situations and, without really good, strong leadership, pure democracy becomes anarchy.
You cannot miss the fact that there was no leadership on the Age 60 or the FDA matters (and now we are playing catch-up on the optimized trips as well). There were simply announcements, and anarchy is, indeed, what we got. I practically begged the MEC to have some round table discussions on Age 60 so that we could "get out in front" of it, but they refused to do it. I believed that there were plenty of good ideas out there to make the situation palatable to all, but they were never discussed. In fact, ALPA refused to publish articles so that the crewforce could become better informed.
I don't push stuff in the cockpit but I have had plenty of conversations when certain subjects comes up. In the past few months, I have flown with two members of the PSIT. At the end of those three hour flights, both said, essentially, that they agreed with everything I said. People know that we have big problems but they don't seem to be willing to change in order to solve them.
It might help to know that I consider myself to be the most ardent "unionist" on the property. Simply paying dues means nothing. Most every pilot who crossed our picket line had been a dues-paying member. I am strike oriented. At CAL, we still had 75% out after 2years! We couldn't get that for two mintues at FedEx. Before breaking with ALPA, I did everything possible to stir the pot and bring attention to both problems and solutions. Nothing! The MEC just could not see things coming down the pike.
Having said that, I realize that everyone has a learning curve and that most MEC members have not had the profound experiences that I have had when it comes to pilot relationships under pressure. I truly admire those who serve and I take nothing away from any accomplishments that they have had, but we are failing on a strategic level and this makes it much more difficult to fix things like optimized pairings, retiree healthcare, etc..
Mind you, just as at other unions, we are losing, not gaining, leverage in our profession. The middle class is going down the drain. Organized Labor, including ALPA, had better start trying something new.
Bob