For the record, my only experience with unions was in another industry. From what I saw, while the locals were helpful, but the national seemed to do very little.

My question: Can one union represent

Air Canada Jazz | Air Midwest | Air Transat | Air Wisconsin | Alaska | Aloha | Aloha Island Air | America West | American Eagle | ASTAR Air Cargo | ATA Airlines, Inc. | Atlantic Southeast | Atlas Air Cargo | Bearskin | Calm Air | Canjet | Capital Cargo Int’l Airlines | Champion Air | Comair | Continental | Delta | ExpressJet | FedEx | Freedom Airlines | Gemini Air Cargo | Hawaiian | Kelowna Flightcraft, Ltd. | Kitty Hawk Air Cargo | Mesa Airlines | Mesaba | Midwest Airlines | Northwest | Piedmont | Pinnacle | Polar Air Cargo | PSA | Ryan | Skyway | Spirit | Sun Country | Trans States Airlines | United | US Airways

equally? I am not anti union, but I do question if one union can serve so many masters.

So, convince me why a national union, representing so many pilot groups (some of which are in conflict), is better than a single company union.

(and please, I don't need to hear Marx's proletariat vs. bourgeoisie argument -- mine is not a question of the value of unions)