In any pilot union, strength depends on engaged, informed members electing credible, responsible leaders. But unions can slip into dysfunction when a disengaged, emotional, or misinformed minority becomes active — and manages to elect representatives who reflect those same traits.

Here’s how that happens — and why it matters:

Low Engagement = High Risk
Most pilots are busy. They trust the system, or they’re disillusioned by it. That silence leaves a vacuum. And small, loud factions can fill that void — often driven by emotion, anger, or misinformation. If only 15% of pilots vote in a local election, it doesn’t take much for a small group to take control.

Like Attracts Like

Disengaged pilots may elect reps who:

Lack experience or understanding of union governance
Operate on frustration or ideology, not facts
Focus on conflict over outcomes

These reps may mean well — but they’re often not prepared for the strategic, disciplined work of negotiation and governance. They may reject compromise, alienate allies, or create unnecessary chaos.

The Result? Gridlock, Division, Distrust

When these types of reps reach the Master Executive Council (MEC) level, they can:

Disrupt negotiations
Undermine union unity
Turn strategic debates into political battles
Push emotional narratives over fact-based decision-making

Over time, the union becomes less effective, less trusted, and less able to deliver results for the group.

The Antidote: Participation

The best way to avoid this spiral is simple: vote, stay informed, and stay involved. Unions only function well when the majority speaks up, not just the loudest voices.

Leadership reflects membership. So if we want smart, effective leaders — we need to show up, ask questions, and elect them.

That pretty much sums things up for Frontier and most other airline MEC’s

 

Good luck with everything FroBros! Hoping for the best for you all.

 

That’s the rallying cry from the fringe but as others have said it’s not based in reality. As a matter of fact, members of Congress are actually provided a salary, something that ALPA doesn’t provide for its representatives or committee members.

Rein in FPL and then what? All of a sudden we have better representation? We can have them fly on the weekends and work on our behalf on their days off. That type of job sounds like something you really should want to retire into. Where do I sign up? Maybe we can ask them to take some of these unpaid COLAs to focus on their union work?

I’m not saying our dues money isn’t important but they haven’t shown any evidence of abuse. The ones pushing this talking point are representing the fringe, because there is no way that the majority of pilots want to use the power of recall like these guys do. There’s been threats of recall on as many as five different individuals dating back to Christmas. I fly the line and it’s more like 1 in 5 pilots who would support this behavior. They are angry and always want to share the latest rumor on Facebook, many times a miserable conversation of other angry pilots talking to one another. Most of our pilots don’t waste their brain cells on this stuff which has allowed the fringe to elect their own.

 

Nailed it.

 

I'm all for reigning in the FPL use and open time grabs by MM and JL. Can someone explain why JL would need to torch the union for 104.5 hours in a month? Or why MM takes 82.5 then picks up open time on top of it. All while cutting the budgets of union programs designed to help the pilot group. Having a union leadership position is not to fatten your wallets on the back of the dues paying members. I stand with reps trying to get some accountability from our leadership.

 

so it’s ok for line pilots to pickup opentime and credit 100 plus but not union folks? I’m just asking because there’s multiple posters on this site that say it’s not an issue. And since you’re checking credit numbers can you tell me the credit of these 4 reps.

This is actually why I quit doing union work. Trying to do the right thing in negotiations while a large group of pilots were picking up and crediting large amounts. For whatever reason this group doesn’t seem to have a problem with that so I’ll guess reps/committee members don’t either. Can’t really blame them after what happened last round.

 

Ok...whew. Let's look at some of this shall we...

First off, I'm not in any union leadership position - nor do I wanna be. I complain about some of the rumors I hear every now and then but then I remember that they are rumors AND i sure as hell don't want to do their job. If you do, start with a voluntary position, work your way up and go from there. Maybe in a few years you can run and get elected. If you're like me and don't want to, then you might want to pipe down a little bit.

Why? Because the FPL is not being abused by every union leadership person every month. Do I think there are a couple who do abuse it, they abuse it regularly and are simply skating by - yes. I do think that. I think that's happening in EVERY UNION in the world (not just the airlines and not just in America). The cross-section of people pretty much guarantees that's the case. But, I don't think it's gross in ours. I think we have the same amount of fraudulent union activity as expected and that amount is essentially unstoppable. If it's one month here for one guy and another month there for another gal, then so be it. Frankly, i'm sure that MM puts up w/ so much BS and answers calls on his day off that 82.5 plus OT (picked up on days off) shouldn't even be mentioned. I would imagine that if YOU were the MEC Chairman, at times, you would probably say to yourself "they don't pay me enough to do this."

Now, as far as any union member picking up OT, that's COMPLETELY FAIR to me. OT is for everyone as it's on days off. However, if there is a case of a union worker "double dipping" - ie. they are using FPL and picking up OT on days they're supposed to be working, then yes you are correct, that should be identified and punished (ie. lose their position).

But to the original point of most of this discussion, we need to get our house in order. There seems to be 2 issues:

1). the original dissention amongst the union leadership, and
2). the fact that there are few (less than a majority) reps that are able to hold up the entire process simply because of the # of members they represent.

We need to solve that - I'm surprised there isn't something coming out of ALPA that addresses this particular situation.

 

it’s not possible to double dip on FPL. The entire day is blocked 0000-2359. Same reason bgp isn’t put on a schedule until it’s a day off in the past.

 

As laid out in the MEC policy manual that each and every one of us can access on the union website, this would not be allowed. Similarly, you can't pick up OT on days that are only available because the trip drop opened up more days due to less part 117 rest burden.

There's a ready-made solution available. Recall.

 

Unfortunately, this isn't the solution. It would simply waste time. If the structure of our LECs remain the same, the newly elected would have the same ability.