They may be marginalized but I think management still wants to keep a seat on the MEC for those guys. Especially now that Atlanta looks to be a lost cause for the old guard.

I think it really shocked them to see a write-in candidate defeat the establishment guys in ATL. That was a real game changer. The semi-permanent ALPA insiders club had always depended on LEC elections where very few people really had any idea which candidate represented which political faction. Pilots were basically voting in the blind or strictly on name recognition. (if they voted at all.)
Social media has changed everything.

There's a huge election next month for MEC Master Chairman. In the past, line pilots were never even made aware of who was running or what they wanted to accomplish. I hope we'll finally see some transparency this time around. I hope that election will be held "in the open" so we can provide some input to our reps. So far its not looking good. The campaigns have been underway for quite awhile now but nobody has said publicly they are a candidate. So much for grass roots unionism and bottom up democracy.