Busboy

Is anyone else getting bored with the "ALPA screwed me" line? As a former EAL pilot, it never ceases to amaze me how so many "highly educated" individuals can come to the conclusion that ALPA was somehow the cause of our demise.

I have to ask...Explain to us how the EAL pilots would have been better off with their own union? How could that have been better? I just got a check a couple of years ago, from the EAL debacle. More than decade after the shutdown. ALPA was still paying those lawyers. Do you really think that, say, the EPA(Eastern Pilot's Association) could have fought a more successful battle with Lorenzo? Get real! ALPA was not the bad guy, Lorenzo was. Hank Duffy didn't refuse the NMB's PEB recommendation, George Bush did. ALPA doesn't hire the Delta pilots, their management does. I don't recall many EAL pilots demanding that we hired the Braniff pilots when we got their South America routes. Oh yah...That was different.

The bottom line is...It doesn't matter if your ALPA or ALPO. If you don't have an engaged membership, complete solidarity and solid leadership, you're going to fail. Having said that, I do believe ALPA gives you the best toolbox to succeed.

IMHO,

BUSBOY

Ranger

Thanks for a great post. Too many people forget that the union (regardless of who/what that is) IS the membership. As you indicated, you can call it ALPA, ALPO or the U.S. Guys and/or Gals Who Fly Big Airplanes For A Living (USG/GWFBAFaL), but the bottom line is that the membership at the local level is the union. Too many people forget that little fact.

It's awfuly easy to toss the blame somewhere else after the roof caves in.