captexpress

IMHO, the recent resolution enacted by our MEC concerning presidential endorsements, clearly illustrates once again, the political naiveté of our pilot group. It is a fact that ALPA’s endorsement of Bill Clinton was a principle reason why we pilots here at FedEx enjoy the protections of a contract today. How you ask? Well, we have to go back in time to when we were struggling for our first contract. Our union back then had about 65% membership on a good day……..and that was before the bullets started coming down range where the numbers dwindled to around 55%. So ask yourself this………why would the NMB release a pilot group to Self Help when close to half the pilots were not members, many of which were flying 200% to undermine the effort, … and the CEO was taking advantage of the situation by telling the NMB he was not sure who represented the pilots? The answer lies with the endorsement and the positive relationship it fostered with the administration. Folks, you need to get over it and realize that traditionally, the Dem’s are the party most favorable to labor. With the Republicans……..it’s typically a closed door with few exceptions. Vote how you want individually, no one is telling you otherwise (although I think it is senseless to pay dues and then shoot yourself in the foot by voting Republican) but……if you are so inclined….it is a free country…but for God’s sake, let the Union do its job.

If you still having trouble understanding what I am talking about…. Let me help by offering this: The NMB uses the Release to Self Help as a tool to encourage both sides to settle amicably. If that is not possible, then a strong Union typically wants the Release to move the process along and hopefully close the deal, on the other hand typically the company would prefer to go on indefinitely. (Any of this sound familiar)? So the NMB (political appointees I might add) have a great deal of sway with the process. If you’re still having trouble, let me be more specific. Back when ALPA I obtained the Release to Self Help from the NMB, the FPA was spawning a campaign essentially to get rid of ALPA, in the futile hope that Fred might view an independent Union more favorably and we might get a few scraps from the table. Did it work? Nope, Fred and company sought to capitalize on the weakness and argued that the Release should not be inherited by FPA, ….. and that the whole negotiation process should start from scratch. (How was that for a reward…..appeasement never works). Imagine a new Union, no money…no national clout to speak of…...starting over again…..We may have never survived? Fortunately, the powers that be, (Democrats) ruled that the Release should stand and FPA was able to close on our first contract. (Some say we had no real choice as to the provisions in that contract, that all we did was essentially take dictation, but I will let you decide, but before you do….. remember the quote that the then President of the FPA stated publicly in the emergency meeting called to explain how we got spanked in the “parking lot” …and why our FPA leadership abandoned our chief negotiator Sees. ……He stated…..WE NEED NATIONAL AFFILIATION! You can imagine the frustration many of us who helped organize ALPA I felt at that point. We went full circle with little to show for the effort. I guess you are only as strong as your weakest link, but at some point you would think we might learn something. So here we are again today, second contract with more at stake then ever before…..and all our pilots can do is……….self sabotage again. Greaat. Not very politically mature IMHO.

One more fact….Federico Pena and then ALPA President Randy Babbit both worked hard behind the scenes to make it happen.