Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
That depends. There always is a motivator for the alternate conclusion. Not good or bad, it just is.
Certainly, a person's agenda and priorities influence the conclusion. Or put another way, you use the facts at hand to your best advantage (within the bounds of ethics).
Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
Not true, and you know it. First, it is a perceived conflict of interest, and one that agreeably ALPA does little to discredit. As for the lawyers. Frankly, they give legal advice not directives, and there have been many times that a MEC has gone against a lawyers advice. Some within ALPA some outside of ALPA, sometime ALPA Attorneys some times alternate counsel.
The Threat of DFR is always there, but it does not paralyze anyone.
Can you name one time DALPA has gone against the advice of the lawyers?
I disagree with you on the conflict of interest. And I'll bet I'm not the only one who sees it that way either. Are we just all "emotional?"
Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
DALPA does not have a position for 2012. Why? Well, have you gotten a poll yet? As for Reps not directly answering questions on what 2012 will entail, that make sense too. Why? Again, how can a rep make a case for anything when the pilots have not been polled.
I do know that all of the reps I talk to have high hopes for 2012. We are in the knowledge phase of Section 6, not in the expectation setting. That will happen after we are all polled. The Reps are just starting to lay out a strategic mindset, therefore thumping our chests is slightly premature.
Again, I know that if I do not get what I want, I vote "no." I constantly tell me reps what I suspect will be the expectation form our group, but I am not upset because they do not respond in agreement. Their job is to tak input, and then give direction.
Ever since coming out of bankruptcy, my "position" has been that our profession and our careers need to be restored to the standard of living we all reasonably expected when we chose this profession. What's your position? If you asked all 12,300 of us this question, what do you think would be the majority answer? (in general... not the specifics) Do you honestly think the majority of us think the value of our profession should be HALF what it used to be? Really?! Why would DALPA wait 5+ years to identify restoration as the objective? Why are we constantly being given DALPA communications that make management's argument against this without making any argument FOR it (us)?
Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
You could, but my point is this:
DPA is stating basically that we need to fight for Scope and Pay on one hand and then when I ask about their strategic thinking on Foreign Ownership, FTDT, a Transnational Airline, Labor and union/non-union implications, etc, I do not get the type of strategic long range thinking that will allow me to sleep well at night. I want an association that is not just looking at 2012, but the next five to ten threats, and then 10-20 years in the future at what we may see as the landscape of our airline. After exhaustive talks with may of the DALPA/ALPA pilots in the respective positions, I know we have guys that are not just thinking about this, but planning contingencies, and counter actions to a plethora of outcomes. These guys are the de facto subject matter experts, and that is who I want guarding my back.
I do not call that emotional, I call that logical. Saying that National is trying to get DALPA to sell scope or that they refuse to act on something that is actually outside of their scope of control is emotional and fact-less. It is also Libel. Making accusations like that sounds good, but without hard proof, the goal just becomes a game of perception.
The most immediate and pressing concern for the vast majority of us is pay and scope. I feel very confident that is the case. Having our pay cut by 42%, our pension terminated, and thousands of our jobs outsourced was and is a CRISIS SITUATION. And DALPA has acted as if everything is just hunky-dory, ops normal for almost half a decade now! DALPA appears to be focused on neither pay nor scope. Long term strategic planning is great. But you have to take care of the most important, fundamental things too. It seems perfectly natural that DPA would emphasize this. But that doesn't mean strategic planning isn't on the DPA radar or that they aren't capable of doing it. To be honest, I'm not at all impressed with what I've seen from DALPA strategic planning. If I were you, I certainly wouldn't be using THAT as a selling point.