Originally Posted by
Dave Fitzgerald
You are all dancing around the math. He is complaining that he has to pay union dues and doesn't want to own up to it.
Yes, it's an expense, but well worth it. I get back much more than I would if I wasn't paying dues and didn't have a union. That is the question, is it worth it? Yes, it is.
I’m happy to be a member of ALPA, and happy to pay my dues and to be in good standing. To the above point, math doesn’t lie, and the union will in fact get a raise from us that coincides with whatever raise we get. Whatever, no drama there.
As a separate point, part of my dues are stated to fund contract negotiations and maintenance. In fact I believe this specific percentage can be found by looking at whatever ALPA charges non-union members for these very services. With this information we can with pretty decent accuracy find out what we as members have paid ALPA to negotiate our contract to its current state over the last 10 years… I’m guessing we have paid 10s of millions of dollars (perhaps $100 million+) to get to the position we are now, which is to say basically the same position on the date of signing of our last contract.