Originally Posted by
Bluto
That’s a good example though, reps are busy with union work to the point they don’t get a realistic view of the schedules anyway. Even if they did, that’s a 3 pilot anecdotal view of things. They could easily be outliers. And even if they happened to be thrilled with the pairings, they represent the whole domicile so whether your rep flies in your base or not seems pretty arbitrary to me based on the current system. With a few small NB type aircraft, we all fly everywhere. Answering to the pilots of a base is what keeps the reps in touch with the line ops there, not their personal, current experiences.
Eh I see what you’re saying but agree to disagree I guess. ALPA is not a democracy by any stretch, but there’s a reason carpet bagging has the definition it has. Representing a place you have no connection to with conditions you don’t necessarily work under has a negative connotation to say the least and rightly so. Otherwise why even have councils? Just have a bunch of folks in a random building ready and available to help pilots out.
I admit it’s not exactly apples to apples, but there’s a reason why statewide elections have residency requirements and it’s not rocket science as to why. We want our representatives to live under the rules they help influence.