Originally Posted by
ATCsaidDoWhat
ALPA's big boys didn't want "commuters" 35 years ago and don't want regionals now, except for the dues money we bring.
I've got news for you: regionals don't bring in money to ALPA, they cost ALPA money. Pretty much every regional, with the possible exceptions of XJT, EGL, and ASA, actually cost ALPA more than they bring in. The previous exceptions
might be break-even. None produce a revenue surplus. They just don't have enough pilots and don't have high enough average earnings. Even AirTran is barely more than break-even for ALPA. We need to get about 2,000+ pilots before we'll really start helping ALPA's bottom line.
So NO, ALPA doesn't want you for the money. ALPA wants to represent regional pilots because it's better for the overall profession for all pilots to be represented by one union rather than a bunch of disparate unions all with their own voices. That will get us nowhere.
If they cared so much, where was Prater last week?
Most likely having meetings with high-level government officials to protect your interests. The average day for Captain Prater is about 18 hours long and filled with lobbying on your behalf. Many days at 11pm he's still in his office in downtown DC doing work for you and your fellow pilots. He doesn't always have the time to give a 30 minutes to CNN of which only 10 seconds will make it on air.
How come we saw that guy Rice doing all the talking? He's a nice guy, but you'd think on something that means so much to so many of his constitiuents he'd be right in front of the cameras.
Captain Rice is basically the number 2 guy in ALPA. I was very surprised that even he gave the time to CNN to go on camera, as he's usually busy doing work for IFALPA and representing our interests on the international front. Be glad that he took the time for it.