The next ALPA President - John Prater
 

http://www.johnprater2006.com/

Please support our effort to break the status quo and bring positive change to ALPA - suppport John Prater for ALPA President.

Tell your representatives!

http://www.johnprater2006.com/

I'll second that. Full term striker, active in union affairs since 1977, helped organize the UAL 570 in 1985, impressive resume. I even donated!

I wish home luck. Seeing as he was once a Scenic flyer is good enough for me, plus him having an met degree rocks too.

I think he's the strongest candidate I've seen so far, and his resume is quite impressive.

What is so impressive?
 

Don't mean to flame the guy...probably a great guy, just not sure what is so impressive??? Am I missing something?

Seems to me like he has quite a bit of experience in many different union positions (at least if his credentials as posted are truthful). I think that 30 years of active participation in union roles is quite impressive in and of itself. Hell, two and a half years of volunteering had me worn down...

Air Line Pilots Association

First Officer Rep, Union of Professional Airmen, Scenic Airlines 1977.
Second Officer Rep, CAL, Guam and Houston, 1983, 1985.
MEC Strike Coordinator 1983-4.
CAL MEC Secretary Treasurer 1984-5.
ALPA Liaison to AFL-CIO. Appointed by President Duffy to build labor support for strike and bankruptcy legislation reform. 1984-5.
United Training Instructor. Assisted UAL MEC efforts with organizing effort of new hire pilots. Fired May 85 by VP Training for honoring UAL picket line.
ALPA membership outreach programs at NBAA conferences. 1984-86 (Captain Saux DAL; Miller/Billings NWA).
Assisted TWA MEC legislative effort to prevent Lorenzo takeover. 1985-86 (Captains Hoaglander, Ashwood).
Organizing efforts, America West. (Captain Babbitt/J. Bradley) 1986.
Organizing efforts Continental 1988-93.

Independent Association of Continental Pilots

Strike Committee Chairman IACP, 1994-1998. Two contracts for CAL and CALEx. Strike liaison at NWA, IPA, ACPA, APA, APFA strikes.
Chaired IACP/ALPA merger effort in 1996 (Babbitt/Rosen)
IACP delegate to CAPA 1997-01.
George Meany Negotiating School 1997.
Won an 11 year battle for reinstatement with full seniority rights for 10 full term strikers, 1997.
IACP Vice President 1998-2001.
Conducted Union receptions for congressmen and delegates at Democratic and GOP conventions 2000.
Prepared congressional testimony on fatigue and FTDT.
Met with DOT Sec. Mineta and FAA Garvey re: CAL/CALEx issues.
Chaired organization drive for CAL/CALEx Flight Instructors. 3 year effort; successful appeal to NMB. Found CAL management guilty of union election interference. 1998-2000.
Chaired post CBA 97 profit sharing negotiations.

Air Line Pilots Association

CAL MEC Vice Chairman 2001-02. ALPA negotiating, leadership, grievance seminars. Flight Instructor CBA. Assisted Comair MEC during strike. Witness in Federal Court litigation to overturn IACP/ALPA merger.
CAL MEC Chairman 2002-03. Contract 02 Section 6 preparation and opening rallies for CAL and EXJ; completed several sections of CAL C02 and a large portion of EXJ contract. Major grievance/arbitration/settlement victory for 850 members exceeding eight million in back pay. Rejected mgmt call for concessions
Wings Pilot Coalition (WPC) Vice Chairman, S/T, 2002-04.
Organizing efforts at SWA and AA.
Conducted Wall Street Journal editorial board with Captain Woerth.
LC 170 Grievance Committee 2003-04. NYC Labor Day rallies and parades.
Trans States and Mesaba Contract rallies. 2005
Boeing 787 Aircraft Design and Operation (ADO) Committee. 2005-06.
STL Airport Liaison Rep (ALR Program) and Basic Safety School. 2005 -06.
EWR Council 170 Captain Rep 2005-06.
LC 170 Grievance and Special projects. Picketing support for pension reform in DCA; Mesaba and NWA negotiations in Chapter 11, 2006.
CAL Negotiating Committee Chairman 2006.

Cargo Bob,
Let's see YOUR impressive resume...................thanks. Prater is one hell of a stand up individual, and he will do EVERYTHING to support our union brothers. He's certainly got my vote.

I don't have a lot of experience and knowledge about ALPA but is it always desirable to have somebody ready to strike? NWA and UAL had that reputation and now look at them. CAL has been regarded as the opposite and they're arguably the most successful post 9/11 major. The rules of the negotiating/striking game have changed. I don't know if that kind of leadership is what pilots need right now.

We definitely need somebody strong in our corner right now and he's a fighter no doubt, but the NWA/UAL approach to negotiation doesn't always work. My 2 cents.

UAL or NWA never struck after 9/11 (except the mechanics) i think, and prior to 9/11 UAL was one of the best pay......
its probably the lack of strikes after 9/11 that let the bar come down so much

For the record, I hate Duane and everything Duane stands for.

With that said, I don't think Prater is ready for prime time. He's still too rough around the edges.

The president needs to be a polished politician to schmooze the politicos in DC and get our business done. While Prater's got some good ideas, he hasn't a clue on how to get his ideas put into practice.

Prater should have run for a lower national office first to get some experience. To go from local or MEC officer to national officer is like night and day.

Prater is not ready.

What in the world are you talking about? With your line of reasoning, I have to assume you blame ALPA and the pilots at NWA and UAL for the sorry state of affairs there. The fact that NWA was considered the "Cobra Airline" due to its many strikes, has absolutely nothing to do with the NWA's bankruptcy filing.

If you had any idea of what you were talking about you'd know that NWA was a consistently profitable airline before the Checci-Wilson leveraged buyout. Your line of thinking is underscoring what many management types sincerely believes; If a company does well it's because of management's fine work, and if it does poorly it's because of labor (great ammo for union bashers.)

The truth is, most of the time the reverse is true.

I don't blame the union for the way airlines are operating right now, I blame management almost entirely. It is the basic job of management to run a profitable operation. I agree that the "cobra" tenacity got them great pay in the pre 9/11 environment, but it seems that airline management/union battle is being played using different tactics now.

Maybe that is true for NWA but I definitely see a correlation between UALs pilot tendencies/inflexibilities and their current state. When United pilots wanted a piece of the incredible profits that were being reported by UAL, the pilots began pulling back power and intentionally delaying flights causing huge amounts of missed connections that required re-accommodation and stress for the entire airline. Management gave in and the pilots got exactly what they wanted, INCREDIBLE PAY. Almost 350K for a senior 747-4 CA! Then when things started to go bad, UAL's insane labor costs contributed significantly, BUT NOT SOLELY, to the unprofitability of the airline. Quite ironic that the new contract that the pilots thought would bring them better pay and QOL ultimately put their company in bankruptcy. Now the senior guys make around 180K with per diem & other extras

Like Duane Said, I think a politically savvy, slippery sneak is better equipped for this war than a "cobra".