Originally Posted by
tsquare
When DAL was denied the Virgin Blue codeshare because "it didn't provide enough benefit to the consumer".. why didn't prater jump up and down on LaHood's desk screaming that he was denying his DAL guys what they should rightly be able to get... iow.. jobs... Why? Because he also represents CoNited... a CLEAR conflict of interest.. HE made a choice to back UAL, and let DAL twist in the wind.
Let's start with the easy part: Judging ALPA based on the government affairs decisions Prater made during his term is fair game, but institutionally insignificant. He didn't "
jump up and down"? I get the hyperbole, and appreciate it. I can give you about two dozen other cases where I thought he screwed the pooch while in office. Please list all the infallible leaders of large organizations you know.
You want a DPA example? President Caplinger is in bed with the pro-management law firm that negotiated the original B-Scale at American...
while they were representing the pilots!
Beyond our opinions of Prater's actions in that case, I think we both prefer no intervention over bad intervention. An ALPA-wide position on Delta & Virgin Blue would have required deliberation by the representatives of the entire Association. That is a good thing.
The issue here is Scope. Does ALPA have a conflict of interest in supporting the negotiations of MECs regarding Scope? You tell me. Does your contract have Scope restrictions on code-share, alliances, and flying divisions regarding other ALPA carriers...mainline and regional?
Yes.
Scene.