Ive been watching and wondering for some time about this. When I was hired at FedEx we got quite a brief from ALPA about how our entire contract was tied to Scope. Without Scope nothing else mattered.

Now as we analyze the effects of the contract I think we gave up some things for the all important scope. Like 4 extra days of work a year by training on days off; and many other things, I think we are all now seeing.

Now the FDA LOA, once again it was sold on Scope being the most important part. So why was this so important. Here's my theory; I think our leadership was being forced to push this at all cost by ALPA National. Why? Because FedEx is leading the way establishing FDA's. As far as I can tell, there aren't any other Major US airlines with FDAs.

ALPA National can't afford to have US airline jobs outsourced to another country. So FedEx was going to have to set the precedent, at any cost.