Originally Posted by
Bucking Bar
Carl,
Care to post some numbers?
Last I checked, the numbers were overwhelmingly mainline, as is our EVP structure.
Also, the two of the largest groups of regional pilots are unrepresented (SkyWest) and represented by Teamsters (Republic). Since 2007 I'd go as far as to say the numbers at the ALPA represented regionals have declined while mainline has grown slightly. Eagle and ASA are probably the two largest ALPA regionals, which together do not have half the seniority list we do here at Delta.
The biggest change in the balance was the defection of US Air.
Comparing the numbers from 2007 to today seems misleading. Why not compare the numbers from 2000 to today, as Carl suggested? I'll bet that paints an entirely different picture.
A year or two ago, we were having this same discussion on the DALPA Forum. Guys were saying that over half of ALPA was regional pilots. I ran the numbers at the time and, while it didn't quite add up to half, it wasn't all that far off. The regional numbers may have declined somewhat since then. But I'll bet regionals are still a huge chunk of the membership of ALPA. And they represent pretty much the only source of future members for ALPA. I suspect this is the reason we're seeing such reluctance to fight for our scope.