Thread: APA BOD Letter
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Old 01-24-2010, 06:58 AM
  #5  
alfaromeo
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Joined APC: Apr 2008
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Originally Posted by eaglefly View Post
Over a year ago, I made several posts regarding the rudderless dysfunctionality of the APA and was ridiculed for it.

The "captain" of this ship and his first and second mates have steered this boat right at the rocks and refuse to acknowledge that they cannot defeat the rocks. Since it appears the captain cannot be ousted, the ship continues its path and will surely scorch the earth alright..........when it finally slams into the rocks.

The truly scary part is that many of the crew believe the rocks CAN be defeated by the bow and are fully advocating slamming into them to try and prove just that.

The only winners on this course are AMR and Davy Jones' locker.
I don't think this is a bad signal for the APA. The problem with electing National Officers by popular membership is that the easy message of "vote for me and I will make it all better" is the cheap way to get elected. If running a union and getting contractual improvements were easy, then it would be done by now. It is not a matter of being manly or "growing a pair" or being nasty to management. None of those things matter one whit.

What you have is the Board of Directors, the elected reps that are closest to the line pilots, taking control of the union and changing direction. The last few years have not been a good time for AMR so it is unlikely that any great opportunities have been passed up. What you see is the BOD recognizing that in today's environment adopting the in your face tactics so popular on the web boards is just a ticket to failure. Real adults do not respond to this type of intimidation and more often it results in negative consequences. Does anyone think Arpey read the "blood money" memo and started feeling bad about how he has treated the pilots and decided to change his evil ways?

So it looks like the pilots of the APA, through their elected representatives, are taking control of their futures. That is not a bad thing. A little ugly to watch, but not a bad thing.
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