Originally Posted by
LoudFastRules
Amen! This is a problem which all pilots need to work together to fix. It's time to make ALPA a union, and time for pilots to fix our own house.
It would need to be something similar to the Screen Actors Guild, SAG.
One contract for ALL member pilots. Each carrier is free to add their own special flavor or perk, but a solid baseline of pay and benefits would need to be established systemwide.
The first step is getting ALL our contracts to expire the same year, or when making a new contract, do not exceed whatever the present longest contract is (probably Eagle, it doesn't expire until 2013).
The second step is to begin creating a master union pilot seniority list. The easiest way is to simply use a person's first date as a member of the union... ALPA most likely. That would be their senioirty date as an airline pilot.... regardless of which carrier they work for. Your first day on property anyplace as a member starts the clock. None of this running the place bankrupt, selling off, re-organizing and wiping out pilot seniority.
The third step is to begin supporting our EXISTING union. That means not just doing your, my, our part in ALPA now, but also supporting the other ALPA local's... not letting them whipsaw one ALPA pilot group against another. A major step in this would be for ALPA national to grow a pair and stop relying solely on bargaining, and arbitration. Many things should be taken straight to court, injunctions obtained to prevent the offending action from happening in the first place, until it can be resolved in court. ALPA should also sue the carriers when they break out contracts. WHat happens now? ALPA files a greivance, and six months to two years later the company tells an arbitrator... ok, we won't do that anymore. F that.
There is a prior case law of an airline suing it's pilot group for breaking the contract... and they won a huge dollar award against the union. Well, the case law is there, and it should work both ways. ALPA national needs to get on the ball.
Step four. When the date rolls around that everybodies contracts expire, we walk until they agree to our terms. Period.
It starts with attending your local meetings, calling your reps, telling them what you want, showing up when they ask you to, doing union related activities, and working as part of a team, instead of against eachother.
Eventually, we would get enough of the right like minded people elected into these ALPA offices to effect change.
Prater needs to get off his duff. His "we're taking it back" slogan is great, but so far, it has been without much teeth.