Originally Posted by Check Essential

I sat through the whole meeting. Both days.
It was an open meeting the entire time for any ALPA member in good standing. There were several points where the discussion moved into areas where it might have been appropriate to close the meeting but our reps worked hard to frame their questions and comments in such a way that this whole process could remain completely open and transparent to all the Delta pilots. That was greatly appreciated.

I hope everyone will indulge me in relaying just one ordinary line pilot's perspective on what transpired.
I speak only for myself and I apologize for the length of this post.

First the bare facts:
The first order of business was the recall of Treasurer Bren Fries. The MEC debated that agenda item and voted 19-0 in a secret ballot against the recall.

As the second item the MEC decided to move directly to the recall of the Master Chairman. That was debated extensively and the result of the secret ballot senatorial vote was 10 votes in favor of recalling Chairman Roberts and 9 votes opposed. According to the ALPA Constitution a 2/3 senatorial majority is required to recall but if a 50% or greater senatorial majority votes in favor of recall then a motion for a roll call vote can be made. That motion was made and a roll call vote was held. In a roll call vote each rep casts the number of votes equal to the number of pilots he represents and he can divide those votes any way he sees fit. Councils 16,44 and 81 reps voted to recall. Councils 1,20,48 and 54 reps were opposed. The Council 66 Capt rep voted against recall and the F/O rep voted in favor. The Council 108 Capt rep voted to recall and the F/O rep split his votes 20 in favor and 125 opposed. The final tally was 6145 to recall and 4617 opposed. The Master Chairman was recalled.
Vice Chairman Jim Van Sickle then became acting Chairman.

The next item was the recall of Secretary Kevin Guilfoyle. The maker of the resolution asked a couple brief questions, there was no discussion and the MEC then voted via secret ballot -- 8 in favor of recall, 10 opposed and 1 abstention.

The last item was the recall of Vice Chair Van Sickle. The same brief questions were asked and the MEC then voted via secret ballot -- 5 in favor of recall, 13 opposed and 1 abstention.

Acting Chairman Van Sickle then spoke about the upcoming important business of the MEC and adjourned the meeting.

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Those of you who are regulars on these pages and have seen my posts over the years know that I am certainly not shy about offering criticism of ALPA or its leadership.
I will admit (shame on me) that I don't go to many union meetings. But I've been to a few, I've seen some food fights and I have to say that this meeting was quite different than what I had expected. It was clear from the beginning that this was going to be an unpleasant exercise for all the reps and the administrators and all of them expressed during their comments that they wished they didn't have to be there doing this business. I didn't sense that any of them wanted to have a divisive battle whether it could be framed as North/South or old guard/new blood or whatever other division you want to name. Clearly there is some of all that behind the scenes but it never came out directly into the open and it never seemed to be a dominant factor over just getting the pilots business done.
In keeping with that attitude, I was impressed, to the man, with the way the reps conducted themselves and the degree of professionalism that was maintained throughout this entire painful procedure. It was apparent to me that these guys whether they were in the majority or the minority had come to represent their constituents, fix what was wrong with our union, get this behind us and move on to the real business of getting us all a better contract.

During the Chairman recall debate there were a lot of excellent (and very pointed) questions asked and a lot of vigorous debate among the reps and the administration officers about all the facts and circumstances that had led us to this point. There were of course some who arrived with their minds already made up about how they would vote but I think everyone listened objectively to the arguments and all in all it was a fair hearing. Everyone spoke their piece.

There was plenty of detailed discussion about office politics and management style and miscommunication/noncommunication, etc. etc. much of which was difficult for us non-insiders to follow at times but I think the crucial testimony that really confirmed the outcome for anyone who may have been sitting on the fence came from the Chairman of the Negotiating Committee Scrappy Olmstead. His role is supposed to be pretty much non-political and I got the impression that to the extent anyone in such a high position can do it, he has been fairly successful at maintaining that distance from MEC politics during his tenure. His remarks seemed to carry special weight for that reason and also because his job is truly where the rubber meets the road for every line pilot. That's what made me listen extra carefully to what he had to say. He's the guy who's charged with getting me better pay and benefits.

Scrappy gave an eloquent statement and basically said the bottom line was that these issues within the administration were beginning to have an effect on the ability of his committee to function successfully and that the MEC needed to fix it and fix it now. I think at that point the members knew that they had to make a change. It really came down to a choice between the Master Chairman and a significant portion of the rest of the administration. There were just enough key people who said they were friends with the Chairman, liked him and respected him but they were just unable to adapt to some of his decisions and the way he was running the office that it became clear to us in the back of the room what the MEC was going to have to do. I think it was also at that point that the one or two reps who truly hadn't made up their minds decided that they were going to have to act. The die was cast.

There were a lot of things that came out in this meeting that we can discuss later but let me say something about Kingsley Roberts. I hope he won't mind. I had met him once before only briefly and I certainly don't know him well at all but I can say that from where I sat he was truly a class act throughout this whole thing. He spoke passionately in his own defense and fought hard for his beliefs. He listed quite a number of initiatives and accomplishments during his term and perhaps most impressive of all, he sat up there at that head table and kept his composure at all times even under withering fire. I don't think I would have been able to remain that calm.

After the final vote, he accepted the judgment of the MEC with enormous grace and dignity. He received heartfelt thanks for his service to the Delta pilots and at that moment conducted himself in such a way to minimize any damage and divisiveness that might otherwise have resulted from what had just occurred.
He rose from his seat, gathered his suit coat and briefcase and exited the room to a prolonged standing ovation from every single individual present.
On his way out the door he accepted sincere handshakes from a selection of his most vocal opponents.
And that was that.

This thing is behind us now. I don't believe there's been any lasting damage. All the north/south stuff and the Moak conspiracy theories, etc. etc. are still there but none of that is preventing our MEC from conducting the business of the Delta pilots. We're going to have a new Chairman and I for one am going to go right back to telling my MEC reps that I'm underpaid and I don't have enough days off and I expect them to do a helluva lot better at fixing that situation.

JMHO FWIW YMMV ... all that.

Originally Posted by brakechatter

I was only there yesterday, but echo the sentiments of Check. I will add that with the exception of one rep, all of the reps were friendly, inquisitive, and talkative--from all bases, including guys with which I have had some scrapes. Several times they came over and thanked the peanut gallery.

I only sat through yesterday, and couldn't make today. Yesterday, if I were in the seat, there wasn't enough to pull the trigger and recall. today, from my understanding, was a much different story.

I especially agree that we still don;t get paid enough, and we need to take a big bite of the apple with FAR 117.

Originally Posted by bigbusdriver

WoW. Two endorsements that the process works and that the world didn't end. These should be copied over to the other thread. I logged onto the -other forum- this week and it was nothing but evil Lee Moak talk and it was days before all this happened. Someone was doing some serious muckraking well before this kicked off and I now know I don't need to go back there after reading these two posts.

Originally Posted by boog123

"The process worked", GMAB.

Originally Posted by forgot to bid

Gravity is worth the money. see it in 3D at the theatre.