Jim,

First, I am certainly not an ALPA apologist, however, don't you think that some of the reason they get the vote they want is because they have a pretty decent understanding of what their line pilots want in relation to what can actually be gained from the company. Believe me, I want 100% increase in pay, I want the work rules back and I would like to have a retirement. I also want to make sure that I am able to work for a profitable airline that will hopefully stay in business for as long as I am in the career. I hope that ALPA has learned from the past mistakes and our next contract will be able to actually realize sizable gains when the company is making record profits and not fall in the same trap the last two decades of signing a contract and then watching the company make truck fulls of money with nothing additional coming to us. Then at contract time, "oh sorry, the economy is in the tank and we can't give anything".

I also don't want to see the same thing happen to us as what happened to the NWA mechanics. They were sold down the river over 2 weeks of severance pay. Their leadership would not send the contract out for a vote.