Originally Posted by
Albief15
Ladies and Gents,
Question: Have you read your ALPA magazine this month? I will be the first to say I've scoffed some of the stuff in it in the past, and hated the John Kerry push a few years back. However, the "Got your back" articles are a very good read and show why having a good team on your side can save your career when things get squirrelly with the Feds or the medical guys. The story outlined about a violation is remarkably similiar to a story I got from a retired Delta captain and mentor of mine who described how the DALPA MEC and Safety team helped turn the feds off of a captain they accussed of dinging an altitude in PHX years back. Believe or not, some of our dues actually do go for something besides feeding me at MEC meetings (did anyone notice their dues spike when I joined in March?).
Comment: John Prater has taken the advice of the FedEx MEC chairman (who told him over and over and over and over and over) to NOT endorse a political candidate this year. I back McCain, yet with him bashing unions in his acceptance speech you can only imagine the pressure the AFL-CIO put on ALPA to publically endorse Obama. Instead, ALPA National gave in to pressure and YOUR request not to endorse. In the big scheme of things--maybe its not that big of a deal--but it was a win and it shows they will (sometimes) listen to input. And--the muscle and effort behind that was none other than the oft villifyed Dave Webb. For you who want to support the Dems you can sign up at an airline pilot for Obama site...I don't have a link but I'm sure it will be published shortly.
Albie -
Thanks for the note. Just a couple of comments from the cheap seats.
I too read the ALPA magazine this month. Some good stuff in there. I couldn't help but think that this wasn't merely coincidence that this issue came out as the union debated whether or not to endorse a candidate. I took this issue as somewhat of a "stern warning" about what the consequences might be if somebody decided to quit the union as a result of them endorsing a particular candidate. Kind of inappropriate if you ask me...
For as many times as I have bashed the union on APC in recent months, I will now publicly thank ALPA for asking for and listening to the inputs provided by so many pilots in regards to this upcoming election. I have no love for either "the chosen one" or "the aged one", and truly believed that the best course of action was for ALPA to abstain. THANK YOU, ALPA, for listening to your dues paying members! See, that wasn't so bad now was it?
During this past summer, I moved out of your block with the seniority realignment. Thanks very much for your active role and participation, Albie. For the little time that you were my block rep, I felt like I received more information, feedback and honest answers than in the past 6 1/2 years combined. Keep up the good work!
HerkDriver