Originally Posted by
PCL_128
ALPA doesn't pay for the services, ALPA is the services. They aren't contracted out to outside providers, they come from within. ALPA's head professional negotiator has been negotiating pilot contracts since 1979. Good luck getting someone like that on the open market. These kinds of resources just aren't available outside of ALPA. There are some things that you can get, usually for far greater cost, since there is no economy of scale, but many things that ALPA provides are only available within ALPA.
Experienced reps know that a "union" like the DPA would be an enormous disaster just waiting to fall flat on its face, and they would be unlikely to take part in it. You'd be left with the third and fourth string volunteers with little or no experience. But that's not what really matters. What really matters is the institutional knowledge from the ALPA staff that you would lose forever, regardless of whether the pilot volunteers stay. Have you been up to the 8th floor to see DALPA HQ? It's an impressive sight. There are dozens of staff members working constantly to represent your interests. From attorneys to benefits specialists to scheduling experts, you have an incredible amount of experienced staff. That doesn't come with you if you leave ALPA. And it's really irreplaceable.
It's not really a "profit," since a union is a non-profit organization, but it does bring in more revenue than the expenses that it generates.
Yes, I've seen that it's been brought up, but just because you've dismissed it doesn't mean that it's not important.
To the contrary, I don't think this vote will ever occur. You'll never get close to the cards required to file for an election. Your peers are far too smart to buy the snake oil from the salesman, even if you aren't.
Because these silly independent union campaigns are a needless distraction that serve only to divide pilots rather than to unify them.
The new ALPA President, one of your own pilots, got elected because of the support of mainline pilots, not just RJ pilots. The same was true of Captain Prater. Mainline carriers still control a majority of the votes within ALPA, and probably always will. The idea that ALPA has become an "RJ union" is absurd to anyone who has seen the internal politics of a BOD meeting.
ALPA doesn't publish the services agreements that it signs with other unions. However, many such agreements exist. Before we were ALPA, our independent union at AirTran, the NPA, had to contract for many services with ALPA that we were unable to provide for ourselves. APA, a union with an incredible dues revenue stream, still needs ALPA for support services in negotiations. All independent pilot unions have services agreements with ALPA from time to time. They sometimes try to get away from it, because some radical new anti-ALPA leaders get elected, but then they realize that they can't do it alone, and they come back for help. Eventually, they realize that they are better off joining ALPA. The NPA and FPA are perfect examples of this.