Here is something for everyone that is calling DALPA the new "evil empire" to chew on. The following is straight from the ALPA By-laws. It is amazing what you can find when you look and try not to pontificate. Now I am going to do like some of my buddies at NWA have done and highlight the big words to draw attention to them.
B. JURISDICTION AND DUTIES OF LOCAL COUNCIL OFFICERS
(1) CHAIRMAN
The Chairman of the Local Council shall preside at all meetings thereof and at all meetings of the
Local Executive Council, except as he may otherwise specifically direct in accordance with paragraph
B(2) of this Section. He shall cause to be called all regular and special meetings of the Local
Executive Council and of the Local Council in accordance with the Constitution and By-Laws.
He shall be responsible for the expeditious processing of complaints and grievances of his Council
members and promoting their interests locally in whatever way possible.
He shall be charged with and responsible for implementing, administering and explaining the policies of his Local Executive
Council and Master Executive Council, the Board of Directors and Executive Board as they pertain
to his Local Council.
He shall be a member of the Master Executive Council of the airline and a
Director of the Association.
(2) VICE CHAIRMAN
In the absence of the Chairman, the Vice Chairman shall perform all of the duties of the Chairman
as provided in paragraph B(1) of this Section and such other duties that, from time to time, may be
specifically assigned to him by the Chairman. In addition, he shall be a member of the Master
Executive Council of the airline and a Director of the Association, except that the Vice Chairman of a
single status Local Council shall not be a member of the Master Executive Council or a Director of
the Association.
(3) SECRETARY-TREASURER
The Secretary-Treasurer of the Local Council shall assist the Chairman in administering Local
Council funds, maintaining Council records and perform such other duties that the Council
Chairman may assign to him. If he is also a Local Council Status Representative, he will be a
member of the Master Executive Council of the airline and a Director of the Association
Now I point this out because of all the complaints that DALPA was supposed to negotiate for NWA or they intentionaly negotiated a deal contrary to NWA's supposed position. I feel as if we are beating a dead horse but DALPA could not and did not have the ability to specifically negotiate an LOA for pilots they did not represent (NWA). That is addressed in the ALPA By-Laws. Now once the writting was on the wall that management wanted to push the deal through and NWA Negotiation committee appeared to be interested more in positioning than negoitiations then DALPA was left no choice but to protect the interests of "Their Pilots" , as described by the ALPA By Laws, and ensure the interests of their electorate. I think we can all agree that we would ask of nothing less from our elected representatives within the halls of Congress so why is everyone calling foul on DALPA's actions?
Now everyone.....Stop...take a deep breath....and relax...we will all be dissatisfied on one fashion or another soon enough. 