I know everyone says “no one likes the Union until you need them”, and I’m not a particularly pro-union guy, but I do understand their necessity in our line of work. My big issue is the fact that these things need to be addressed, there are full-time people in that office over in Euless, and the general response seems to be that there’s nothing the union can do about these things. I won’t pretend to understand the inner workings of the union, or all the nuances of airline union negotiation, but I’m concerned that the people in place to negotiate on our behalf are ill-equipped to do so. It’s through no fault of their own, and I commend them for volunteering, but when you look at the amount of money the pilot group contributes to the union, isn’t it fair to expect that the people going to bat for us are professional negotiators and not pilots who do it in their spare time? I refuse to believe that absolutely nothing can be done until the company comes to the union hat in hand. I’m tired of getting the token “email your reps” response, emailing my rep, and hearing nothing substantive in return. When was the last time we heard anything of value from the MEC?