The union should be responsive to its members. They should do what the members want, not what is best for the ALPA bureaucrats at the national office. Per diem is TAX FREE. International pilots are losing at least $10,000 TAX FREE per year.

They always tell us it is "our" union. How can that be true, if we are treated like children by the people in charge? How can that be true, if they think they always "know better" than us? I remember when the Roth 401K first came out. I asked if it would be part of our contract. "My union" said, no, it wouldn't be a good deal for us. They made the decision for us, without asking us what we thought. A couple contracts went by before we finally got the Roth 401K. We could have gotten it a lot earlier, if ALPA leadership had decided we should have it. My point is, the leadership should listen to us, but they don't because they are, for all practical purposes, unaccountable to us.

The retirements scheme is a prime example. They need to do a 100% survey of the membership to see how much support it really has, then they need to publish the results, whether they like them or not. Remember the Enders report? The union is just as guilty about hiding stuff from the membership.

Per diem is an expense that the company can write off as a business expense. There is no reason for the company to be against it any more than normal pay increases. Would you rather have $10,000 tax free? or $10,000 that is taxed?