Originally Posted by
Dharma
Didn't want to quote the whole message, but it seems that your message to APC-land is that the only way for the Board member to communicate to the MEC is directly. Again, this is naive. Here's a hypothetical for you, and you can extrapolate to other situations:
At an MEC Meeting, someone puts forward the idea that we should prepare for the demise of foreign ownership. Everyone agrees that this is stupid and there's no need to waste resources on it, yet the Board member stands up and says... "Not so fast. You might want to rethink that." Little does the MEC know that the industry, now flush with cash and looking to expand beyond our borders has secretly been talking to government officials in the Trump Administration that they are ok with foreign ownership as long as it is reciprocal (like Brazil tried to do). The Board member asks everyone to look at the possible reasons for Delta's 49% ownership stakes in carriers that have foreign hubs we'd like. Maybe the light bulb turns on, maybe not.
There are many ways to communicate. Perhaps that seems contradictory to my previous post, and I'll accept that criticism.
The Board member is invaluable.
I totally agree that the board seat has value. The value and the willingness for ALPA to install a member that is willing to act contrary to consensus is what I question. The conflict of interest with regard to the duty to the union and duty to the shareholders is a difficult line to walk, hopefully our new board member has the ability to do this effectively. The seat has its limitations and is different from the other directorships. Pay, voting rights, etc.
outside the box follows...
Why not get a full director compensation (done in shares) and use those funds to return value to members via VEBA or refunds. Use the seat, test its bounds.