Delta Merger and ALPA politics
 

To the Delta pilots that were formerly NWA guys:

You have a group called ALPAWatch that has a website and sends out politically charged e-mails. They seemed (could be my misread) to support a candidate in MSP that didn't win the election. A couple of questions:

1. Did the recent elections alter the former NWA LEC's political structure at all, or is the political leaning the same? One of the incumbents didn't win (Lewis), so is his replacement of a different political "side?"

2. Is ALPAWatch accurate and respected, or political hacks doing anti-union business?

Our elections on the Delta side had the names change in LA, but no political change as the new Captain rep had been a 2 term rep in the 90's.

I've heard that ALPA watch is a self appointed watch dog group. I'm not sure whether they have their own agenda or some ax to grind. I'm sure we'll become familiar with them over the next few years. Do we know who they are, or are they anonymous?

We know who "they are. They are respected, but not well known. They do not have a political axe to grind. It seems that "they" just want to make sure everyone who is/was a part of NWA ALPA knows what the union is doing, because few of us have the time to go to all of the meetings. They are not anti-ALPA. They are "watch" and scrutinize ALPA.

Are their comments and analysis considered on point and accurate by most NWA pilots?

They seem to be pretty good. The losing incumbent that you cite was a very good thing. He and his counterpart in DTW have wrecked havoc among our MEC. They used constant roll call votes and other parliamentary maneuvering to shut down anything they disagreed with. They are/were very junior members with the goal of eliminating senior people from ALPA. They saw themselves like the "killer B's" at AMR back in the day.

Carl

I gotta agree with Carl here too. I supported the "incumbent" in the beginning when I thought that the MSP reps were a little too cozy with the company. But, as time went on he took some real odd stands on a few issues plus the incident with the vice chairman was way over the top and unacceptable. Now, I think we need reps who will work well with our new partners and advance a united agenda to the new company. Divided we fail........didn't I see that on a commercial somewhere?

As far as ALAPWatch. I'm not sure they have put anything out I didn't already know from either an MEC email or from a rep.

OK, gotta ask...what was the incident?:eek:

Glad you're happy with your new representation. I think you'll like the way we do business down here, and I hope that the reps can get together quickly to form a joint MEC.

Hmmm... You say they are respected, but not well known, and they "just want to make sure everyone who is/was a part of NWA ALPA knows what the union is doing..."

I just noticed an interesting (?) observation. In 2 of the 3 MSP elections, one of the candidates ignored answering the ALPA Watch questionnaire, or having any of his info posted to their site. In both cases, that individual won by a reasonably wide margin. In the other race, where both had all their stuff posted, the race was very tight.

A statistician would argue that there is a negative correlation between success and involvement with ALPA Watch.

I wonder if ALPA watch is such a fringe group, nobody cares...

PG

Sorry, thought it was common knowledge. Probably not for a public forum, ask me in a Starbucks line;)

Or, sometimes if you are not well known, you have to do things to try and get noticed. In this instance, I'm not sure what the case is.

I really HATE the fact that ALPA is so political, so like many others, I dive in and out of what the latest happenings are.