Originally Posted by
Adlerdriver
Thanks for volunteering, trashhauler. I do personally appreciate that. My goal in my previous post was not to denigrate the efforts of the SIG and if I came across that way, I apologize to you and the other members, past and present.
I was being critical of those specific NC members who brought us this POS who happened to be prior SIG members and I don't apologize for that. You're right, I have no knowledge of what goes on in that room, but that's not really germane to my point. Having a close working relationship (as well as at least one personal relationship) over years and years with the very same people who you end up across the table from during contract negotiations is the issue. It's my opinion that some of the NC member's previous SIG work which I think I can safely assume requires compromise and in some situations acceptance of absolutes laid out by the company may not have been the best training ground for our NC.
On another SIG note - let's just say that I was interested in getting inside that room, the happenings within I readily admit I have no clue about. If I volunteered next week, how long would it take before I was allowed behind the green door, so to speak? Is that even possible for an average unknown person who might want to do that work? From what I understand, it takes some serious juice to go from scrubbing pairings to getting inside that room. Is such a well protected and exclusive fiefdom a healthy thing to have? Is it the best place to draw NC members from? Maybe you can offer your opinions because I can only go on what I've gleaned from conversation with other prior SIG folks.
I realize you were a bit offended, but are you really insinuating that my criticism of our NC and MEC is why we seem to consistently fail with contract language and enforcement? There are many, many reasons why that happens and I don't begin to claim that I could lay out a cogent explanation of them all. I certainly have my theories but they're best reserved for several hours in a bar with plenty of whisky. However, I'm pretty sure my criticism isn't one of them. Results speak for themselves and they are highly deserving of every bit of criticism they receive. Dysfunction and selfishness? Yup, they're a big problem, I couldn't agree more. There are a large number of our pilots that simply don't "get it" or don't care to. Self-regulating each other in the legalistic and punitive culture that's been built here is impossible. You're right, I don't see all that changing any time soon.
I can say that I've been at an airline that had their collective ALPA stuff squared away (albeit in a very different environment that we face now in many respects). As a new union member just off probation, I watched as the leadership lead, the pilots did what was required as a group (ya know, that unity thing?) and backed by that, the NC aggressively and WITHOUT COMPROMISE got us one of the best contracts the industry had seen to that point. The negotiating environment was fertile and in our favor during that period and they made the best of it. Much like our negotiating environment was in 2015 leading into our eventual contract, however, as we all know the results were significantly different.
So, again, my apologies. If we cross paths on the 777 and we can figure out who we are, I'd gladly buy you a beer or three and solve the world's problems further.
Hey Adlerdriver, I'm not offended by what you said, I'm just frustrated. The reason I'm frustrated is that I'm constantly seeing pilots here blaming the Union for this, suing them for that and just constant agitation. The bottom line,the union is us, we voted these guys to represent us and the way to go about change, if that's what you want, is vote someone else in or get involved. The net result from all this is a pilot group that is very fractured and as far away from unity as possible. Couple that with a company that is a professional at playing us and dividing us and you get the results we always get. It's been that way since I was hired and unfortunately I don't see it changing.
I also realize that this system is not perfect. There a lot of decisions that the union makes that I don't agree with or downright **** me off. The alternative in my opinion is much worse.
As far as getting on the PSIT, I was flying with a pilot who was on the PSIT and he told me that they were looking for reviewers. I had already decided to get involved in the union in some capacity to do my part and this seemed like a good way. I initially had no desire to be a builder, but as I got involved in the scrubbing more, I found it interesting and felt like I was helping out making sure we had good pairings for the build. I was asked about a year after scrubbing if I would be interested in being a builder. I didn't know anybody on the PSIT, I wasn't connected. I just volunteered to review and after a while when an opening became available, I was asked if I wanted to build. Yes, there are benefits to being a builder, but in my opinion, I did't think it outweighed the work involved. There are guys who can do that work for many years, but after 4 years of doing it I was done. As far the Stockholm Syndrome, never happened. We had a working relationship with the company SIG and you had to to make this work. We were able to make a lot of changes and of course there times we couldn't. The times that we felt that the pairing was egregious enough, we would dispute it, than some pilot would fly it voluntarily and we wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
Again the system isn't perfect but we saw what happened when the company built the lines during 4a2b, it wasn't pretty. So, I wonder to myself, is this pilot group ever going to be able to put their petty differences aside and suck it up to show a united front? After watching one of our own sue the union, I seriously doubt that will happen. I think you can lay the results of this contract on that more than anything else. Of course that's just my opinion and I'm sure Tony will tell me where I'm wrong
