Originally Posted by
FXLAX
That’s the thing with constituencies. Just like in our MEC we have reps with differing priorities depending on them or their constituents’ demographics. That’s what you get when you have a democratic republic type of organization. In that type of governing structure, there will ALWAYS be compromises that are best in whole. Nothing different there when it comes to National or our own MEC.
Yes, the IPA, as a whole, does have one set of priorities (that was a compromise between their reps). But how much do they have in the form of influence where it counts? I have yet to see a representative invited to testify before congress from the IPA. Nor have I seen any IPA reps in advisory committees either. And even if they do eventually get on one, their influence will be directly proportional to the number of their members compared to ALPA.
Let me put it this way since you mentioned FDX being the only large cargo carrier in ALPA, what if IPA merged with ALPA? What would us pilots as a whole gain? Wouldn’t that be better than being independent and losing all influencing abilities, especially considering that national cannot affect our internal issues and how we decide to handle them? I mean, I would be all for changing the name of ALPA to IPA if it meant we are all in the same union. The letters don’t matter, it’s the people that matter. And when we unite, we have a bigger stronger voice. Each MEC is its own entity when it comes to their own company issues but come together when it comes to the piloting profession as a whole.
Show me the last time the president didn’t sign a contract or LOA? Maybe happened once 30 years or so ago. The president is required to follow the administrative manual when it comes to signing his name. As long as the MEC followed the administrative manual when it comes to the negotiation, he has no basis to not sign it. And the interpretation of any of that is not up to him, anyway. The EC has that power.
As for perdiem, like I said, absolutely positively no person at National can tell any MEC what to what not to negotiate for. I mean, they can say not to, but the MEC can laugh it off and ignore it.
I think you and I disagree as to the value of some of our supposed "influence". I'm not sure I've ever seen any action taken when the ALPA president testifies before Congress - nor do I believe that American, Southwest or UPS pilots were somehow disenfranchised because they didn't testify. When we have similar values those other independent unions gather just as much value (of which I think there is little if any) when ALPA testifies. I used to think there was value in all the synergy shared between ALPA NCs and specific value in things like ALPA's E&FA but then found out that ALPA regularly farms out their org for a la carte pricing to the independent unions - at a much less overall cost. The NCs actually meet well beyond just ALPA - they regularly meet and talk between all the different pilot unions.
No doubt there is compromise when you are part of a large org with various groups but I just don't see the value anymore. We have a lot less money available to spend out of our dues money compared to any of those independent unions - we also have incredibly less say in who we hire to man our office. You want some more lawyers even if you h ave the cash? Well that has to be approved by national and those lawyers come under the CBA of their employee group. You want o remove one or two of your weak staffers? Virtually impossible for the reason.
I completely agree that we are mostly left to our own on negotiations. We get next to zero value from our assigned national attorney - we succeed and fail on our own here at Kirby. The ALPA President will sign almost any CBA we put forth - that's not the issue. The issue is whether we are maximizing value to the Fedex pilot by being part of ALPA. I don't see it. Say you want to change our website or add an app for our members? Any idea how hard that is to do because of the walls ALPA has set up to protect their employees and their work product?
not sure I understand your comment about perdiem?