Perhaps you are not familiar with the recalls of Bruce Stone and Bob Shoemaker? What do you mean why didn't they stand up against Fred and Co?

Here's the deal. After the furloughs of 9-11 the scabs came back to power because the bottom 800 folks fell off the seniority list. The votes weren't there within the body politic to affect changes within the CAL MEC structure.

ALPA keeps saying "change is slow" well, that slow rate of change is multiplied by a factor of 4 or 5 when the ability of the membership to vote for change is curtailed by the ability of the scabs to outvote the mainstream opinions and will of the pilot group.

However, after some key recalls and removal of scabs from key union leadership roles things got moving in the right direction. Remember: ALPA forgave the CAL scabs. That forgiving created an entire new breed of scab. An empowered scab. A sign of improving times was the resignation of Jay Panarello upon the election of reps in IAH who vowed to recall him. He never got recalled because he resigned first.

ALPA's been doing good in my opinion post Merger. At least here at UAL. It's been moving the ball. I am not satisfied however with ALPA's inability to prevent NAI's application. It is these sort of foreign ownership schemes that will undermine our ability to collectively bargain and compete on a fair playing field, Carriers like these will achieve a "Continental Airlines-Like-Labor Cost Advantage", and that competitive advantage will be hard to compete against on trans-atlantic routes.

It reminds me of what UAL used to allow with regard to its agreement with Aer Lingus (UAL planes/Aer Lingus Crews). Competing against carriers that have built in cost savings weather it's NAI, or the ME3 is a tough thing to do. ALPA needs to do more to level the playing field internationally.

Anyways, I hear what you are saying, but ALLOT of good folks at CAL, and allot of folks with superior skill-sets that know how to get things done. If you look at the big picture, this was a group that in my opinion was forsaken by ALPA and victimized by Lorenzo. It took a while for them to get their swagger back, but they came back and ultimately ALPA came to them. The IACP didn't go to ALPA, it was the other way around. CAL was my first choice to interview with due to its age demographics and their seniority list. UAL was my last choice due to its history with minorities and the various court rulings affecting mandatory hiring practices. It is what it is, but that's the way I saw it in the early to mid 1990's.