Hard Landing

Many seem concerned about the COI this creates in the future for this individual, when the real threat is the issue this creates with many current ALPA reps. They see the “golden ticket” RD got and know if they play nice with management their chance may someday arrive. This should have ended years ago!!! Minimum 5 yrs of flying between ALPA and management!!!

Bucking Bar

Rick Dominguez (call sign "Desi" from the Lucy Show) speaks Spanish as a first language. He's done a ton of work on ME3 issues and fighting Certificates of Convenience. Here's some of his stuff on a CAPA panel. He holds his own very well against seasoned attorneys.

The-Witches-brew-Alliances-Equity-JVs-and-protectionism-226

I understand, second hand, that this new position will facilitate best practices in safety and relationship management with our Latin-American partners like Aeromexico. (it would not surprise me to see him end up as Delta's designee to the BOD of several carriers. I've not heard that from anyone, but it makes sense given this man's knowledge and abilities)

Thinking through a fictitious, made up, worst case, scenario; the theory that Rick Dominguez could somehow harm us in negotiations does not make sense. The secrets he understands have to do with the nature of the commercial arrangements Delta has with its partner airlines. Obviously, Delta already has this sort of information, Delta wrote the agreements.

He has helped us a lot in the past and could continue to do so. Our team will have to rediscover a lot of what Rick Dominguez knows and not having him around will slow negotiations while we build our knowledge and relationships. It would have been smarter for us to re-elect Canoll and that is becoming more apparent as we see the support team at national start to drift away into other jobs.

Bucking Bar

Pilots move up from line flying all the time. Do we want a system that holds pilots back?

The same people who are upset about this move were upset when a Delta pilot sold his services as a consultant to another pilot group. Would that also be banned?

Of course, the flaw in your theory is that Rick Dominguez was bought off. First of all, he was not one of our Status Representatives and did not set direction. He could not change the course of the ship, he went where he was commanded by our member-driven political structure.

Let us look at the facts. While he was involved in negotiations (and administration which is a team sport) our compensation doubled. The baseline requirements for our international scope expanded by about 15%, which the company was not able to meet and which ended in the largest airline scope settlement in the history of planet Earth. While he did work with Delta management on ME3 issues, we shared a common goal of seeing a fair competitive landscape that we could fly over. He pushed management into fighting Certificates of Convenience, which they only half fought (I think they'd like to keep their options open and COC are on our threat horizon here). He had his hands on much of the negotiations which gave us the industry's leading affiliate, control and branding language which means basically, if a mainline jet flies in Delta's colors, it has a Delta seniority list pilot at the controls.

Gooner

I for one don’t actually care that he has done this as it is within the rules. But you have to agree on a pure optics level, this feels a bit dirty to switch from union leadership position to a management leadership position. As you have said it’s not inherently bad, having pilot advocates in management is a good thing, it just worries us line swine not understanding motives.

There is a troubling trend, particularly at the ALPA National level of turning those positions into lucrative corporate positions, some while also receiving a pension. The motivation for “serving” the union should be the pilots well being, as is the case with the majority of volunteers. There should be a non compete clause that can be violated but only at a significant price that at least the union receives a monetary windfall for losing “talent.”

Then we only have to worry about being represented by pilots that don’t want to fly, not constantly having to wonder if we are being represented by management wannabes or prospective politicians with conflicting motives.

Bucking Bar

I absolutely agree with your point.

Do you see a difference in representative and administrative positions?

The truth of the matter is, it is not often that a union officer, or administrator, has the ability or political viability to function in a corporation. Delta is a bit unique in that arena.

More broadly, in politics, members of the Chamber of Commerce (which almost all businesses are, including one I own - ugh) are on a war against organized labor. Having a union position on your resume is toxic in most cases. My service in ALPA has easily cost me $300,000 in lost revenue from my side hustle. It is kind of like wearing a "Planned Parenthood for Hillary" shirt while trying to sell insurance at an NRA convention.

captkdobbs

Thank you. That's an image that makes me laugh.

Scoop

This is probably the crux of the matter. How many DALPA guys do we want representing the Pilots vs management who might always be thinking of their next gig. How many DALPA guys while representing us are always thinking of not burning that bridge with management in the back of their minds.



I would say seeing how almost every MEC chair proclaims he will not run for National but then ultimately does paints a dim picture in this regard.


This is not the end of the world - no matter what deal is brought before the Pilots we always have (or should always have) Memory Rat .


This is just another symptom of a weak system (DALPA) that needs to be tightened up. Although I wouldn't even use "weak" to describe our current situation, more like dysfunctional.


Scoop

Tailhookah

DPA died a long time ago. It was effective for a time. To even think it would come back greatly humors me. It’s not Alpa that’s at fault. It’s membership. When surveys only have a minority participation, or money towards Alpa PAC is low, or voting participation in LEC elections continues to be at low levels it points to a laissez-faire attitude. People need to participate. If you don’t participate then you don’t get to complain. I’ll never back DPA. All DPA does is dilute the already minority participation. DPA does nothing going forward.

Participate in your union or be quiet.

Tail

Denny Crane

I'm not going to deny his expertise or anything you wrote. I don't know the man and have no idea if it will be good or bad for us. It just looks really bad....

But to say he will have no influence on issues that affect the Delta Pilots is naive. He's not a marketing guru etc. His background is as a pilot and he WILL have a effect on issues that concern us.

Denny

Giordano Bruno

And now this traitor apparently will be working in a new management job (and against ALPA pilots) as the company's contract hatchet man.

The dude was a former negotiating committee member. Worked his way up the ALPA food chain. Now he's in charge of exploiting our contract and screwing us over. What a miserable scumbag.