hatetobreakit2u,

What you have suggested here has to happen. The gaps have to be filled in order to reduce the internal competitive pressure among similarly-skilled pilots. Otherwise, junior pilots will always be motivated to force the seniors out. This is no way to run a "union." This is not a union.

The ethical imperative that must be established is: Fairness. Pilots who feel that their talents are underappreciated economically will compete with their senior counterparts for better pay and working conditions. On the flip side, when they feel they are treated fairly, economic tensions are reduced (by the way, many of the tension factors are introduced not by management but by the pilots themselves).

For instance, at FedEx, the daytime flyers and the nighttime flyers have a totally different perspective on life. The disparity in fatigue, for instance, is enormous. Yet, everyone receives the same amount of vacation time, as if it didn't matter.

During my presentation to the FedEx MEC last year (prior to my resignation from ALPA), I proposed some solutions to our internal competition. One very simple one was that night flyers should accure vacation time at a faster rate than daytimers. Walla! The "junior" pilots suddenly feel that they are being treated a little more fairly and the immediate result is that the competitive pressure is reduced...a little more unity is created. In fact, you would probably have senior guys bidding nights just to accrue more vacation.

Maybe it was too simple; the MEC was totally uninterested. Nothing, nada, zip. I will try to write more about this a little later but, for now, every pilot should know that there exist good methods by which internal competition is significantly reduced within organizations. They are being employed all of the time by corporations and other entities in order to get their internal houses in order. Despite my nearly endless appeals to ALPA to investigate, including an offer to pay for the airfare and accomodations for one expert in Organizational Behavior to come to Memphis and present before the MEC, they have shut this information out. They are not interested.

Strategic matters such as this cannot be properly explored at the LEC level where nine people who happen to live nearby show up. And, in any case, this is not the time for "democracy." We are in too divided a state. We need strong ethcial leadership that sees the need for change, will investigate the possibilities, and, then, truthfully educate the rank-and-file about the options. Then, it can be turned over to the troops to make a decision on what is best.

Until that process is established, there is no avenue available to move forward on some of the ideas that you have suggested. We must have strategic discussion outside of the established institutions.

Bob