We were in light chop one day, across the Midwest, and the F/A in the back calls me up and says, "It's really bumpy back here, can you do something?" (back of a 757)

I said, "Really? Wow, it's perfectly smooth up here. Hmm, why don't you walk up here and see where it gets smooth, get the row number so I can write it up for maintenance."

I figured she'd know I was being a smart *** and let it go, but nope, about 2 minutes later we get a knock on the door, she comes in and says, "It smoothed out about row 15." and she was dead serious!

I said, "Really? OK, hand me the log book..." as the F/O was busting a gut.

 

Timbo.. PM comin at ya

 

Sure it was a harsh assessment, but it needs to be harsh. The APA conducted a clown show for 6+ years and only changed when their contract was rejected, they were hours away from a federal injunction that could have bankrupted the union, and their bankruptcy claim was flying out the window for good. How much closer to disaster did they have to come to change their path?

US Airways and USAPA have conducted their clown show for 7+ years now and their only hope of redemption is latching on to the APA that in turn latched onto the Delta/United contracts. They have failed in every objective they set and they have not delivered a penny of benefits to their pilots.

Following a deal like we signed last year, you always have the charlatans come crawling out from under their rocks proclaiming "Vote for me, I will give you everything you want." They have no plan, they have no work ethic, they only know how to craft a simple seductive message that all your dreams will be fulfilled if you simply follow their siren song.

The DPA lawyer is a master at this type of propaganda and deception. He ruined the mechanics union at Northwest and got kicked out of there. He led the Flight Attendants union at Northwest to near ruin and got kicked out of there. He led the US Airways pilots on a wild goose chase and took $10 million from them and finally got kicked out of there. Compare his list of former clients to current clients and you will see a guy that has basically been fired from just about every labor job he had. He got rich and they just got poorer and poorer. Now he has found a new set of chumps in the DPA that believe his crap because they want to believe his crap. Who wouldn't want to hear that all your troubles will simply disappear with a simple fix? That's is why you see all those ads for miracle diet pills on TV. Some people don't want to work out more and eat less, they would rather just take a pill and have their troubles disappear.

So if I make a harsh assessment then it's because my time in this profession has a limited life span. The time that should have been the heart of my career was spent in the bankruptcy era. Poor me. But rather than feel sorry for myself I actually tried to work to help pull the pilots out of this pit and back closer to where we need to be. Unlike the Carl's of this world who lack the courage to actually take real responsibility for anything I had to deliver the hard message that there are no easy solutions there is only work and work and more work and that improvements are cumulative and not immediate. That got us 50+% above bankruptcy rates within years of exiting.

So yes I make a harsh assessment. If I have to suffer through the APA/USAPA clown show for years and years I will sacrifice hundreds of thousands of dollars that I will never recover. So will thousands of other Delta pilots. If I want to take that seductive easy message and kick it in the teeth it's only because I have seen the serial failures and urge people to resist the siren song and continue to follow the path that has led to success.

You say I am on a high horse and I say prove my assessment wrong. Show me how the APA/USAPA clown show is leading the industry out the bankruptcy era and I will agree with you and change my stance. So far I have seen nothing but BS and bluster from the DPA crowd and their charlatan lawyer. Their ideas need to be countered. I really don't feel like sitting around for the next 6 to 8 years watching my dues money pay for the DPA lawyers boat while I wallow in the muck. That is their record and it should be exposed for what it is. Hucksterism.

 

I had the same problem some months back, though it is working fine for me today. Try clearing your history and your cookies.

 

Good post alfa but you're wrong about the USAPA.
They have succeeded 100% in their main objective. Their entire reason for being. --
The Nicolau award has never been implemented.

That fact may reward them more than anything. We'll see what happens with the AA SLI.

 

hate to interrupt but what's going on at the occ? computer system fail? no wdrs.

 

Good post. Thank you for your union service and posting here. This place was beginning to sound like an echo chamber.

 

He keeps bringing up USAPA and how they failed. They have been 100% successful in what they were set out to do: keep nicolau from being implemented at all costs.

So, at least half of his point is wrong. He (just like what he accuses others of doing) does a great job of presenting "facts" that need quite a few asterisks next to them.

 

If you think it's been a success story over at USAPA, then you are free to make that argument, but it makes you look silly.

Doesn't USAPA have DOH in the by-laws? If so, have they been successful implementing that?

 

Do I think they are a bunch of fools? Yes. They have given up hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to fulfill their number 1 goal in preventing Nicolau from being implemented up to this point. How does understanding that make me look silly? Do explain.

They have that an SLI shall be DOH in their by-laws, but there has been no re-do attempted.