Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
I still have hope for a successful outcome.
I guess it comes with the fact that I have worked with a few of the National guys and some of the Committees that help the line pilot. There is a lot of good that this union does that 99% of the rank and file never need nor know about, but once you see it in action, you will see the political issues as something that needs to be dealt with to save the true vale of the union.
I agree that there are many things we need to do at the national level to refocus our attention on the line pilot. It needs to be done for ALPA to survive. If DAL decides to leave, ALPA is deal. They know it and we know it. That 800 pound gorilla can get a lot done with that knowledge.
Lets wait and see. I think that getting a bunch of guys together from across the union to look at how we could redo a few things here and there would be a major benefit.
I do not think that ALPA is dead, and in fact think that if we do vote in a in-house union, not much will change. We may have more cash on hand, but in the end it is the pilot of DAL that run our union. National has some say and I do not think that anyone is naive enough to think otherwise, but in reality we have become the majority of national, so there will be some changes.
I could be wrong, and we will see nothing change, and at that time, you may be correct.
Make no mistake about it, ALPA has a lot of good blood in it. There is many die hard Delta pilots that has put a lot of work in to the benefits we all harvest now, and I am grateful for their accomplishments. However, I do believe that a union fighting for our benefits, and our benefits only, will have a much better chance of success than a union representing pilots from all sort of airlines, including our own competition. It is kinda like the difference between efficiency and effectiveness. If given the real numbers I would like to make a graph showing our compensation / benefits over the last 10 years. One graph showing the top senior pilot, one showing the most junior, and one showing the CEO. This graph will clearly show the performance of a union. If or when we do decide to benefit ourself again, I am more than ready to put a lot of work in to it. In the meantime, I hope you are correct and that the trend of lousy communication, lousy deals, and a loosing trend will turn around to our benefit. I have a feeling that with enough people like yourself in there, we might have a chance to keep ALPA but a LOT of work lays ahead... Big question then is: is it worth it, or will it be better to start with a blank sheet?