Originally Posted by nitefr8r

The flying is not controlled by some monolithic entity called the company. It pops out of a computer that says this flying should be done by LAX, this flying by MEM etc. The rub comes in the stuff that cannot be manned due to the staffing at the various domiciles. That's where the turf wars start. There was zero recognition on the SIG's part that certain flying is inhertnly more efficient at some domiciles than others. "That's our flying and we will take it" prevails more often than not.

And you can be surprised all you want about what the SIG chairman told me, but it wasn't the only time and frankly during the 2 1/2 years I was C-100 Vice chairman, I personally found his attitude regarding the LAX domicile to be rather hostile.

And the absurdity continues. Late last year, I was on a dh to MEM on a pairing that finished at MEM (several days later) with a DH to LAX, I ran into a classmate who is a MEM MD-11 Captain and he was doing the mirror image of my trip, except his DH's were to/from LAX. As I told the SIG Chairman about the computer programs he was so proud of: garbage in, garbage out. That set him off several years ago as well.

All I could do as vice-chairman was hint about these things in the official communications I wrote to C-100. Everything that was written by us had to pass through the MEC for approval. In 2 1/2 years, not 1 letter was approved without at least 1 major revision. On this particular issue, I had a choice of re-writing the Council update or not getting it sent out. That was pretty much the way it was stated to me by the MEC Chairman (DW). I chose to re-write it. In retrospect, I wish I'd just sent it out on my own with an addition as to why it wasn't coming from ALPA, at the time I had the entire domiciles addresses and emails. That's hindsight for you though.

Guys, this all history and rehashing it won't change it. You can believe what you want about how the SIG is run and how flying is allocated, it doesn't make it so and we're simply not going to convince each other.

I wish those of you who wish to stay involved and volunteer well, you'll need all the sanity you can find in dealing with our MEC, let alone management. We are our own worst enemies.

Aloha.