I have a tremendous amount of respect and appreciation for you, X. I think everybody here does. And it is a problem that this was sent out with your name but not your approval or knowledge.
That being said, Trim's post is spot-on. We're angry. We've been angry. And we have very little confidence anything will be accomplished in 2017.
I know you and our other representatives have been working hard, but there is a legitimate frustration built around the unbelievably atrocious TA promoted in 2015, an unwillingness to play "hardball," and the MEC's failure to apply for mediation sometime prior to the 6-year mark. How many airlines have we seen in the last three years reach their amendable date, quibble a few months, maybe throw "strike vote" around, and get a contract? Offhand we've got...
1.) American
2.) United
3.) Delta
4.) FedEx
5.) UPS
6.) Hawaiian
7.) Southwest
8.) Kalitta
9.) Sun Country
10.) Compass
11.) Endeavor
12.) ExpressJet
13.) PSA
14.) SkyWest
15.) CommutAir
16.) Envoy
17.) Piedmont
18.) GoJet
19.) Great Lakes
20.) Horizon
21.) Republic
22.) TSA
We've been dead in the water since 2010. We didn't bother filing for mediation until 2017. We wasted countless hours and dollars on a pointless roadshow for a TA with work rules worse than we have now (but thanks for the quesadillas, I guess). By the way, we're all English proficient (or most of us anyway), so let's just skip roadshows and let the pilots simply read the document.
I was in close physical proximity to AH after the failed TA and listened to him discuss who they should bring in as new negotiators on the phone. The only logical part of the conversation was an interest in bringing JB in for her legal background. Other than that he expressed an unwillingness to work with a number of people because "they'd come in with a flamethrower." We could use a flamethrower. We could use an artillery strike. We could use a strike vote, and we could use an earnest discussion into the viability of a status quo strike. We could use union leaders who aren't afraid of rocking the boat and union leaders who don't inexplicably end up in cushy management or recruiting positions. Lastly, we could use an ad campaign informing potential pilots not to come here (
Pilots | AtlasFacts.org).
As far as lawsuit concerns, who's going to sue us and on what grounds? Another ALPA MEC for pointing out their superior contract? A second class airline for insinuating it's a second class airline?
I'm sorry that letter went out with your name on it, and I'm sorry a lot of our pilot group doesn't read many union emails, but this is the first time anyone in the union has tried to light a fire under some butts and show any real disdain for the status quo. Finally. We need to be angry. Publicly.
EL for MEC Chairman.