Originally Posted by
SloNLow
ALPA is definitely the superior union (pilots). Until the company (Allegiant) makes it clear that the current retention bonus will be honored regardless of union, IBT / ALPA, most Allegiant pilots will reluctantly stick with Teamsters. The wording in the stupid retention bonus agreement specifically states IBT (not pilots or elected representation).
If the payout is guaranteed with ALPA we’re all set…ALPA it is.
Some of you need to stop repeating Teamsters talking points and start grounding your arguments in what the Railway Labor Act actually says and how it has been applied, including at Allegiant.
The Allegiant pilot retention bonus interim agreement is a side letter to the collective bargaining agreement. It is not a standalone deal. Under long standing RLA precedent, side letters and interim agreements are part of the CBA and are protected by the same status quo requirements.
A change in representation does not void a CBA and it does not terminate side letters. Agreements attach to the craft or class, not to the union administering them. When representation changes, what changes is who enforces the agreement, not whether the agreement survives.
If the Teamsters’ argument were true, our contract should have disappeared the moment we moved from Local 1224 to Local 2118. It did not. Pay, work rules, and side letters all remained in place because the law required it. The same is true here. Claims that pilots would lose the retention bonus or other negotiated benefits simply for changing representatives are legally false and designed to intimidate.
What is not theoretical is IBT’s continued failure. We held an election, yet Greg Unterseher still refuses to release control. The trusteeship remains imposed. Pilots are denied the leaders they voted for. There is no democratic accountability and no meaningful progress to show for years under IBT control.
At the same time, we are heading into a merger while being represented by the same Teamsters leadership that failed Atlas pilots during their merger. That is not a coincidence and it is not a risk we can afford to ignore. This is exactly when strong, experienced, pilot run representation matters most.
ALPA offers what IBT has not delivered: democratic governance, airline specific expertise, merger experience that actually protects pilots, and the institutional strength to enforce agreements and win improvements. Staying with IBT means accepting more delay, more excuses, and more control by people we did not choose. Moving to ALPA is how we protect our contract, enforce our side letters, and position ourselves to come out of a merger stronger instead of divided.
This is about facts, law, and outcomes. On all three, ALPA is the clear choice.
I hope the pilots that ran the ALPA drive haven’t given up, we’re going to need them now more than ever.
-cHeERs