Council Elections
 

Good day, employees. Sleepy Ed here. I'm taking a break from lounging at one of my beachfront condos, I mean, spearheading our marvelous IT revamp.

Anyway, I'd like to offer my endorsements for some local council elections.

I'm going to start with a candidate near and dear to my heart in Council 1, Eric Hall. Between he and his wife, they're going to do some great things for me, I mean, for you.

I generally don't care for conflicts of interest. But I love this one. We have diligently groomed this candidate's wife for bigger and brighter things in Flight Ops management. She started out in the chief pilot's office, and now does a number of high-visibility stuff for us. Job fairs, pilot hiring, etc. She's basically the face of Flight Ops! She's done a great job for us, well, except for a recent SNAFU, but that's another story. If he's elected, she'll incredibly valuable to us by continuing to influence him.

Anyway, he's been defending her actions. I love it. A guy's got to defend his wife, even when it puts him in an extremely precarious position. And this certainly does that. I love the idea of a local union chairman in a position to defend management.

And if he needs to choose between her career and your careers, I'm confident he'll choose hers every day and twice on Sundays. Wouldn't you?

My contacts in the MSP CPO tell me he's a great guy. They spend time together socially, you see; they're friends. So they should know. Clearly, they are backing his candidacy. I approve.

It's my suggestion that, when evaluating candidates, you should always chose the one backed by the chief pilot's office. It's best for all of us, really.

Anyway, I'm doing great. I'll be sleeping even better once the MSP pilots elect Eric Hall. It would be great to have management whispering in his ear 24//7/356. Make it happen.

Stay tuned for my next endorsement for Capt Busse in LAX, another guy who's going to help me with my quest to corner the Florida beachfront condo market. This guy is pure gold.

Your favorite buyback beancounter,
Sleepy Ed

Great head work! So don't vote for the guy who is controlled by the MEC chairman. Or who was against pay banding until he became a 767 pilot. Or who leaves just about every MEC early for a family "emergency" or to requal as an FFDO (ALPA should pay for that right?).

Hey Ed,

Maybe we can rise above once and focus on positives of candidates and resist the mud-slinging?

Btw, before you hit submit when you do character assasinations, make sure you pick the right screen name. It looks less sloppy.

C'mon, Planetrain. You KNOW this isn't really Ed. It's some guy trolling, in case you didn't. Either way, it's a clever way to discuss what's going on with voting when one candidate is away at training and the other is "helping" people vote.

By the way, how's the view from the 4th floor? Do you look at Virginia Ave or just the parking lot? And if you look at the parking lot, how do the planes on a stick look from your vantage? I bet they look phenomenal.

He knows what he did and deleted...

Sleepy Ed, are you sure you aren't endorsing Captain Lewis, I mean the endorsement letter that was sent out for Captain Lewis came from a management pilot. Below is quoted directly from that endorsement.
"During three decades of professional flying, I have had the opportunity to contribute to the operation of various airlines in many roles. From Line Pilot, to Instructor and Management Pilot to ALPA volunteer, I've observed the work of many talented people. Captain Lewis is one of those talented individuals."

I certainly haven't seen an endorsement from management for Captain Hall.

I certainly haven't seen an endorsement from management for Captain Hall.[/QUOTE] 1234

Sorry "numbers"(1234)
Lewis and the Halls don't even play on the same team. They would be similar to sending a poodle into a room full of pitbulls. We need people like Lewis to fight for our QOL/training/Vacation pay/health care etc. We may not be seeing 18% raises every contract but we can make our lives better. Profits soaring, stock buy backs galore, retirements mounting.... It's time to move the ball down the field.

I agree, it is time to move the ball down the field. My question is this though, what has Lewis delivered in his ALPA career? He has been an ALPA lifer (even when he was at Eagle). What can he put in his gain column that he championed or voted for? Heck, it's my understanding that he wasn't even present at the MEC meeting that gave direction to the negotiators.

Lewis fought to reject the failed TA while the Apple Dumpling Gang was peeing down their legs.

We can never repay Jon Lewis for all he has gained for the Detla pilots and our profession.

There is much left to accomplish in C2019. Jon will be leading the charge again.

Sadly the captain reps in Atlanta will be, IMO, pulling on management's end of the rope yet again.

Just so we are clear, Hall also led that charge and was adamantly against TA1.

And yes, there are some that just can't seem to give enough to the company. I just found it ironic that the OP says Ed is endorsing Hall when the fact of the matter is that Lewis is actually being endorsed by a management pilot.

He also fought to defeat TA2, which passed by a much larger percentage than TA1 failed. When I talked to him in the lounge during the TA2 balloting, he was incapable of answering a simple question, "What needs to be improved in this TA for you to vote Yes?"

Don't worry, he's repaying himself nicely! His hotel room points alone for all those two-night stays in MSP (the base he represents) for 1-hour representation meetings add up to a tidy reward. Strategic use of ALPA days and sick leave has saved him a bundle on commuting costs to his bid base (NYC), and getting paid Flight Pay Loss to do his gun requal while blowing off the MEC meeting in MSP, is a nice perk.

He also gains a nice head start on the other reps when it comes to leaving meetings. "Where's Jon?" is a common question on the last day of meetings. Ask you reps.

That's laughable. Here''s a fun fact for you, Jerry. We're voting under new balloting rules that passed a vote by the BOD in July. Lewis didn't vote. He didn't vote For or Against...he just didn't vote. Your reps in DTW did. Hall did. The ATL reps did. How can you "lead a charge" when you don't participate?

Sadly, Lewis would continue to release confidential information like he did with TA2, and in June with company marketing info.

Eric was huge on holding the line on profit sharing also.

Karnak

You guys always want to deflect from TA 1.

You screamed and cried and threatened and begged.

"There is not one penny more!"

You company men almost cost our profession dearly with your management worship. All for a pat on the head.

Jon was spot on and you can't stand it. Thank god he was there for us while you and your friends wanted to settle for crumbs.

Where do you stand on C2019?

5:15 vacation day, min day, training day?

JV Scope immediate penalties and huge shift to Delta metal?

Major gains in retirement? Delta management is buying back $12 BILLION in stock. They should have restored our pensions prior to buying back one share of stock.

What say you?

Hopefully you have learned something. I'm not holding my breath.

Eric Hall has been in step with the average line pilot on both TAs, Lewis, not so much.

Eric Hall actually sticks around and participates in the entire MEC meeting, Lewis collects the FPL and ducks out early.

Eric Hall is MSP based, Lewis is NYC based.

Eric Hall = New Blood, Lewis = Old Guard ALPA lifer.

Has Lewis ever voted yes on anything?

"You guys" is too vague. I voted for TA1. That was a mistake. I voted for TA2. You didn't. Lewis didn't. A much larger percentage of our pilot group voted for TA2 than against TA1. But I'm not quibbling, though. I voted the wrong way on TA1 and you can proclaim it far and wide. I'm also not running for office. Please don't lose track of that fact.

The topic is Council Elections. Here in MSP, one of the candidates has been in lockstep with his constituents. One of them hasn't.

I did none of those, but you can smear me with them if you wish. Good thing I'm not running for office, huh?

Wow. Maybe this would be a good time to ask you to quit interfering in other council elections. Launching ad hominem attacks at a non-candidate in another council instead of discussing facts is a credibility killer.

W-w-what? He voted NO on TA2. Spot on? On TA1 he was a broken clock...right for a moment. You keep dwelling on TA1. There was another one after it. Can you relate Lewis' "spot on" record on it to me?

It's all my fault. Blame me. If I decide to run for office, please hold it against me. But since I'm not, and it ain't your council, leave your god out of this and mind your own business.

I want 6:00 minimum day for trips, and for training days. I want touched-trips for vacation, and a pair of positive space passes to/from one vacation destination per year. I want pensions restored and increased to 65% FAE, and JV non-compliance penalties applied retroactively.

Thank my god guys like you trying to set the bar so low have very little credibility on contract issues!

I think it's been more "confirmed" than "learned".

Is anyone watching Ozark on Netflix? I have only seen episode one, but it was very good. That episode at least does get you thinking about what a man will do for his wife.

Isn't one of these candidates married to a woman in Delta management?

Karnak said

"I voted for TA1. That was a mistake."

This is where is stopped reading.

I give you credit for sharing the truth.

It's sad you cannot be more grateful for Jon Lewis putting hundreds of thousands in your families pockets.

Imagine now how those gains in TA 2 will translate into C2019.

For the record, I have never said one thing negative about Eric Hall. Ever.

And I stopped reading when JJ voted "no" on TA 2 and tried to keep hundreds of thousands of dollars out of my pocket on a TA that passed by 82 percent and reportedly has a satisfaction rating higher than that today.

The JV scope in TA 2 is worthless.

Absolutely worthless.

Instead of thinking about himself, Captain Lewis voted no for our young Delta pilots.

Now he will be there yet again to make sure our JV scope it fixed in C2019.

I will be right there with him and many other great members of our MEC as well as the DALPA administration to ensure we protect our international flying for our young and future pilots.

We couldn't have a better team with the exception (IMO) of the Atlanta captain reps.

Together we will craft meaningful JV scope.

Come join us.

Nope.

One is married to another pilot, who is also based in MSP. One is based 1,000 miles away from his council.

MSP has been shrinking so much (especially it's wide body flying), that if you're going to hold it against someone because they aren't based there anymore, you are going to start running out of pilots.


In the interest of full disclosure, I know Jon and the dude is a scope/JV hawk. Union-wise, it's 90-95% of what he talks about.

I don't know much about the other guy. But, I would definitely want someone like Jon in a high position to keep the company and the union honest.

Is it against ALPA by-laws for him to be based in NYC and run for LEC 1?
No it's not.

From what I can tell he was hoping to get back to MSP ASAP. His family is in MSP, he's rooted in LEC 1 territory. You're setting a debilating limit for ALPA if you push this. Pilots will have to chose between career progression and helping their fellow pilots. Most won't even blink, they'll chose what supports their family. With the massive shift in positions and bases, do you really think you're benefiting the pilot group by playing this "1,000 mile" scheme? You're setting a terrible precedent for our Union.

I voted yes on TA2 and now regret it. Initially I sided with Hall, but in retrospect the company has trounced our widebody protection. Pay raises do no good when there's no seat to occupy. Hall is a nice guy, my interactions with him have always been cordial. But I believe his platform isn't aggressive enough to protect the duration of my career. I'm voting for Lewis.

It's sad that we are in protection mode vs enhancing our contract.

Great Jerry. That would have been a legitimate reason (I guess) to vote no. It would have been really cool if he would have vocalized that at the table and then he (and you) could use that as a legitimate talking point.

Trying to make it sound like that was his reason for voting the way he did 9 months after the fact, is rewriting history.

Anyway. I have seen how these debates go over the years from those who see things as they wish they were (or want them to be) instead of how they acually were.

Cheers

Then maybe he should show up and stay til the end for meetings.

The entire Apple Dumpling Gang sold TA1 like their lives depended on it.

And now you think I'm rewriting history.

I lobbied for months to have meaningful JV scope. I laid out how it would work.

Our crack "professional ALPA attorneys" dropped the ball severely. If they had any honor they would resign in shame.

At the LAX meeting the Apple Dumpling Gang was there once again trying to say outside professionals are bad.

My dog could do a better job than they did.

I'll admit, I'm biased, because I know him. But, if it's true, what was materially affected by him missing the end of the meetings? Plus, what would the other guys have done on those moments that Jon misses?


Ie., how was a Council 1 pilot negatively affected?

Hey, I voted NO to TA1 as well. I am not sure what that has to do with the conversation.

You implied that JJ voted NO to TA2 because of JV Scope. That is re writing history.

You are wrong. I spoke with Jon at length about his vote during that period. As you know, scope is always the number 1 concern.

Moving on, whoever is elected we need to fix our JV scope.

Delta aquired all those new gates in LAX and we need to ensure they are filled with Delta jets.

How many domestic cites to we feed LAX from? 50 plus?

And United flies from LAX to Singapore. Somehow we can't compete.

We need to ensure Brian, Steve and Sham get elected in LAX. They are laser focused on how critical JV scope will be in C2019 to protect our international flying growth in LAX and elsewhere.

C2019 is a watershed moment for all Delta pilots, especially our new pilots.

Get out and vote.

While I'm not a member of Council 1 and, therefore, have no dog in this fight, I am an ALPA member who pays dues. To that end, I will say that Council 1 pilots likely were not materially affected by any alleged early departures but the underlying issue comes down to professionalism and ethics.

He received Flight Pay Loss to attend those meetings and, as a dues paying memeber, I would expect those who are being compensated to attend meetings do so through its conclusion. Obviously there are one-off circumstances which might justify leaving early but a trend (if that's the case as alleged) seems to illustrate a person who places himself and his needs above the group he is representing and being compensated by.

To be fair, was in management and currently conducts hiring.

And the other...

Lives within the vicinity of MSP and has a bid to return when the next 7ER bid comes to MSP.

Both are non-issues.

Good point. Any of the chief pilots could run for office, too...and be in compliance with the rules. It's legal, but it might not be in our best interests.

My concern is his creative use of Flight Pay Loss and sick leave to make his commuting burden easier. I don't think someone who lives and flies out of their base has the same incentive to do that.

Pursuing other flying is fine. Using an ALPA position to make it more palatable is not fine. My perspective.

I think he might be aware of the optics, judging by his campaign letter describing it, "I recently accepted a bid to fly out of NYC..." Makes it sound like he had nothing to do with his preference card, or that it was a baby in a basket, dropped on his doorstep.

What specific wide body protection was lost in TA2?

Fair enough. I voted for Hall. I don't think voting no because you can't describe exactly what you want is really a "platform", but I understand there are pilots who view his attitude as aggressive.

I view our growing pilot ranks and large AE's as signs of something other than "protection mode".

Full disclosure: I know him, so I'm biased too.

The meeting minutes going back through his term are available. I've seen a printout done by a MSP pilot that lists the missed days, sessions, topics, and votes. There are a couple of eyebrow raising debates and votes that he missed. I think the two days he missed last summer when the negotiators were getting direction from the MEC on sick leave was pretty serious, but I suppose that depends on how important you think sick leave is...or having all of our reps participating in it's negotiation is.

Leaving the BOD before the voting on the resolutions was not the sort of representation he promised when he ran, nor was not voting this July on the constitutional changes to ALPA's voting rules. 220 other reps managed to take the 2 minutes it takes to cast an electronic ballot, but not MY captain rep. [One of the ATL FO reps, and the SLC captain rep also blew it off]

If your point is Lewis might not have made a difference in any of the days/sessions/votes he missed, then I can't counter that. I wasn't there, so I don't know what influence he'd have had. I know he missed them, because the evidence is published - but I can't speak to how he'd have made things different.

I should let Jerry answer that. He refers to ALPA as a "bloated blob" that wastes our dues, and doesn't speak for us. He also tells us he likes Lewis' "fighting" for us. I'm probably too old school, but I thought fighting was a participation sport, and the fighters should be in the ring. I also think expensing multiple hotel rooms to conduct brief representation meetings in MSP to fatten my hotel points (on ALPA dues) could be a contributing factor to any of the "bloat" Jerry perceives.

That's fair. Let's take it a step further.

While she was an F.O.M., how'd Eric vote on TA1?

Can you connect the dots to show any "management influence" there?

After she left, Eric voted Yes on TA2, like 82% of us did.

Karnak

How do you feel about Sam DeRosa's use of flight pay loss and as a guardian of our union dues money?

I can't nor have I tried, which is why I refer you back to the last line of my last post. Sounds like current or future commuters (probably close to everyone on the seniority list at some point) need not apply. Good plan. And if you are married and have a spouse you can't control the same applies. :rolleyes:

Not my council. If his usage is similar to that of my rep, then someone in 44 should call him on it.

Since I've never referred to ALPA as a "bloated blob", nor endorsed Lewis, it falls to you to reconcile your support for Lewis against your accusations of ALPA's "bloat".

Back to Council 1.

How many MEC meeting has the first officer rep missed while on vacation?

I like Eric. I think he does a great job. I've had some great conversations with him.

I find no balance in your argument. You are complaining about Jon and giving Eric a free pass.

Safe to day they both have gone above and beyond.

I'm have no doubt that he told you that, but there was never any proposal, talk around the table, whatever, that came from him about dealing with JV scope with regard to TA2. 99 percent of the time when he spoke in plenary, he said "Mike (insert any name) said what I had to say" and that was it

Now, this doesn't mean he didn't (does) have great ideas about how to deal with JV scope or any scope issue, but he sure didn't verbalize it before the fact. (Except maybe to you.)

Talking tough after the fact and actually getting things done beforehand are two different animals.

Again, don't get me wrong, this is a C1 decision and whatever they decide is fine with me. I just don't like it when the "facts" are portrayed how someone wished them to be, as opposed to what they really were.

I swear you read my mind, I was going to say the exact same thing.

I don't get to just skip the last turn of my trip when it's going to some unimportant redneck town that probably doesn't matter that much to Delta anyway. I fly the entire trip because it's my J - O - B. If you're going to take my dues money to attend meetings, then I don't care if you're talking about how your fingers smell after you pick your ass, stay for the entire meeting, or return the FPL.