Originally Posted by
covid19
What do you expect the Union to do? They are operating under the limitations of the NMB; we must maintain the status quo. What could be done differently?
We just had the strike bus go to all bases with events in each base. Having a meeting or meet-and-greet in all 13 bases each month would require immense resources. There would need to be 4-5 pilots on full-time FPL. It doesn't happen with the current MEC/LEC reps questioning the 2-3 negotiating committee reps taking FPL.
If you want to see change, it starts at the LEC level(MCO and DEN specifically.)
As for day turns and line construction, I'll be the first to say I'm not happy with it, but we were stupid enough to agree to the current contract with no protections in place. The company is building pairings per the current contract. We can address some of the issues in a new contract.
Ah, finally some progress. We are all discussing symptoms of the problem and NOT the actual problem (albeit we are getting closer to it).
The real problem is: our union is not structured correctly AND there is not enough transparency in it. Given that I don't volunteer to do anything, I'm very hesitant to criticize anyone who does. But, my thoughts are that IF someone does volunteer (especially an elected position which they must campaign for), they should be working their ARSE off - especially now. We should all be included on just about everything that the MEC/LECs are discussing at their regular meetings - and I'm aware that the NC is different than the MEC/LEC (discussing other business outside of negotiations). We have 13 bases but only 4 LECs. I know who my CA LEC chair is and have met him face to face. Good dude. Don't know the other two (FO chair and admin). I can imagine the 3 of them have a ton of work to do for the 3 bases they represent but I'm not really sure what that entails. Voting occassionally? Parking passes? The last LEC update on the website was in October and it was about the strike authorization vote. Other than that, the last time I'm aware of any LEC being discussed was the MCO rep who was bragging about not flying on FB. Is there anyone who actually knows all that the LEC does - its not on the website and they're not allowed to post here. I would surmise most reading this don't - which is the problem. Besides, asking someone what they do (in a tone that suggests they need to justify their job) only leads to embellishment of the book answer of the job description. I mean, what EXACTLY does each LEC member do whenever charging toward union business?
The F9 ALPA website should be updated regularly - right now the calendar shows a MEC meeting Feb 6-9 and that's it. The committees that seem the most active, and that I truly appreciate, are Hotel, Grievance, FOQA/ASAP and safety but what about the other committees? P2P. Don't need specifics but how many people have they helped? What do they see as the greatest problem area amongst our group and what do they propose as the fix? Training? Strategic planning? HIMS/human factors? I admit that I may have missed an update from any of these - the last posted P2P update was in 2022. I would REALLY like to know exactly what the scheduling committee does, how much insight they have into the "system" and what issues are regularly occurring w/ the company. BOTs seemed to be a hot topic a while back but I'm more interested in the company "hiding" trips and the lack of FDO despite having greater than 20 RSV lines. Just a few examples - there are others.
I know there's a lot going on. I know union peeps are doing quite a bit - It'd just be nice to see a little more tranparency.
One thing I WILL note is that the communication committee - hats off for the increased work. The recent pilot contract comparison is MUST READ for all F9ers.