Originally Posted by
DAL 88 Driver
Come on, ACL. You're tap dancing around this like a seasoned politician. Without going back and finding the quotes, you either said "unity solves all problems" or you wholeheartedly agreed with it several times. Now you say the above? Sorry, pal... can't have it both ways.
Here's my take on "unity solves all problems". These guys are "unified!" Pay particular attention to the narration at the end of the clip.
YouTube - Lemming Migration Along the Norwegian Coast.
I will save you the trouble. Bar said it and I agree. Point is the unity cannot solve items like Cabatoge or Foreign ownership, but a single unified voice of all pilots domestically though ALPA and internationally though IFALPA does solve the issue of each group going for what suits their purpose at that time. Having a group of independents with a lose affiliation actually hurts the profession as a whole.
Wrt to my other post that it does not solve
everything; What that should be translated as, is: Unity cannot bring back your pay, retirement, etc with a wave of the unity wand. What it will do it unity the profession as a whole where each group quite worrying about I and once again worries about WE. It is a big deal, and it is the point on which ALPA was founded.
ALPA has, since its inception grappled with issues, but the deal with them internally. That is better for the profession, and long term you and I. Isolationism, and the basic lack of unity that an independent offers may for a short time help one pilot group's set of causes but over time, it will cause may issues.
As bar points out, there is no benefit for the RJET pilots to become ALPA. They fair better than our regional ALPA counter parts do with awarded flying. They are undercutting the profession and us for short term gains, when the long term gains are in jeopardy. You can argue that it is not them that awards the flying, and yes, to a point that is correct, but if we as a profession actually unified; regional, supplemental, LCC, Legacies and the like, the long term benefits far outweigh the snipping that would go on within our own house. Think if it as two brothers, they can hate each other, but when one goes after the other, they are steadfast allies. Same would be true on a single UNIFIED voice of the entire piloting profession.
The ideal of independence or a lose association on the national scale is horribly short sighted. I am not saying ALPA does not have work to do, they do, but do not shoot the profession in the foot over it. What needs to happen will not happen because, frankly pilots are just too selfish, and that trait plays in to any and all of our opponents goals and aspirations. Again, extremely short sighted.