At least Dubinsky, Whiteford and Bathurst were smart enough to keep us out from under the supervision of a Federal judge! There were times during all three of those administrations (and I had a front row seat) that getting hauled into court was a distinct possibility. Wallach lost control of his troops. Once the IRC had a freee hand to do whatever they wanted without any supervision from the MEC office, the die was cast. All management had to do was start gathering information, and they did that very effectively. Hell, they even had the brass nuts to use KC "delays" against us! After you and I and most pilots had stopped caring about whether they assigned a delay to us or not. We laid back and let the operation dump on us when they couldn't perform and they used that against us. Incredible.

I see this as a failure of leadership. I watched how Mark Bathurst worked management and the BOD. While most pilots will never know how effective he was, what he did worked. Now, we didn't get any big gains during that four years, but on the other hand we weren't HAMMERED by a Federal judge and had ALL of our negotiating leverage STRIPPED from us.

What leverage do we have going into Section 6 right now? I can't think of any. We will get what management gives us and not a thing more due to Wallach and his little minions on the MEC. I've watched some of these clowns first hand and will tell you that there are several with so little intellectual capability it is amazing they are allowed to fly airplanes. We are in a very deep hole, largely due to the incompetence of several MEC members and their officers.

The shutdown of the forum is merely "damage control." They are afraid of their shadow right now and more importantly afraid of the pilots they purport to represent. The forum shutdown is a symptom of a far greater problem - the inability to lead and the overall credibility of the MEC.

Realistically, there is little they can do. They have built themselves a box that they have to live in. They are now just attempting to maintain control over a pilot group which has seen, through the discovery process, that they are being "led" by incompetents. If you have not read the depositions, I would urge you to do so. They are still available. They paint a very sad picture of an organization lacking control and discipline. Dealing with the "Tilton Gang"? Fat chance. Won't come from this group.

Steve