Did the NMB release us to self help at that time due to the political influence of ALPA? Maybe. Maybe, more probably, the NMB did it because behind the curtain the Company wanted to be released to self help. Face it. The company KNEW the pilot group was weak. Very weak. The only way to break the union was to release to self help. If you don't re-write history, you'll see that for all practical purposes that is exactly what happened. Out of those ashes came FPA, and, eventually, a much stronger ALPA. However, the company was able to effectively break the union at that time.

You can keep smoking that stuff and believe what you want, but the reality is the Company got what the Company wanted, at that time.