Originally Posted by
Onfinal
On Unions and Organizing:
ALPA, APA, et al are hog tied because any action outside of the RLA will land the leadership in jail. Hence the need for a separate association that is focused on the improvement of airline workers but is not a labor union. Note that just about every other industry, non-profit, etc has several vociferous organizations lobby congress in their favor, and are able to distribute the marching orders thru them. But we as pilots are satisfied to lean on our unions to do all the work.
Basically we need an AOPA for airline pilots. ALPA has some of this built in but its a lame duck due to RLA limitations. I think this is a very wise idea to have a dedicated Political Action Committee to tackle issues like what we're facing. Goodness knows the airlines have done a great job with theirs (ATA/RAA) and if every pilot contributes, say, $100 a year it would amount to a serious campaign fund.