You don't need to change the union to vote out your MEC members. Teamsters will not bring more reasources to the table. If you really care about what happens at Mesa and think that your MEC is not doing a good job then just get together with other pilots that share your views and recall your reps it's that easy, but will you step up to fill the void? It's easy to complain and sit on the sideline but putting in your fair share of effort takes personal drive. Saying you will dump one union for another is not going to solve a problem locally. You guys and gals are the union.

Best of luck, lost of pilots will support your work towards a better contract, just make sure you all support yourselves first.

 

Oh i know. They are the gold standard.

 

I non-revved on a RAH flight out of ATL a couple of years ago and was talking to another non-rev, an RAH Captain who said that the Teamsters were horrid, and were basically selling the Pilot Group out to the company.

How would that be any different from what's going on with our MEC now? It's time to recall all those bozos, and if I was not furloughed, I'd be more than happy to step up... but because I'm a furloughee, I'm a non-person.

I will grant that there are some good folks at the MEC, some of the reps are excellent, and are very much for the pilots. But reading that "FU Pilot Group, we'll do what we want" email that basically said the MEC had unilaterally decided to keep PBS with no input from the pilot group (because I suspect, the vote would not have gone in the company's favor) says a lot about how broken the system at the MEC is.

Maybe those folks at the MEC need to go back to flying the line instead of flying a desk and being management apologists. Also maybe there needs to be something written into the by-laws of the MEC that forbid an officer of the MEC to take any management job, even Chief Pilot/RCP for two years after leaving their MEC job, as well as full disclosure of any gift, greens fees, social functions, or anything else offered to them not offered to the rest of the Pilot Group as a whole by management. Fair is Fair, and there are too many rumors (true or not, it's all about the appearance of impropriety that matters) about those folks getting things from management, and that needs to cleared up ASAP.

Just my 2¢.

 

Nordo:

Sorry to hear about your furlough. Don't know you, but been in those shoes a couple of times. Hang in there.

How many guys are on furlough? How many are still flying?

You're right about change and impropriety. I'd say that the comments from 2 years ago by the RAH guy were true then, but not now. IBT threw out all of their leadership in DC and put new people in. They also tossed out the schmo that ran the Local that RAH is in. The one who got them a crap contract.

Might want to look at www.teamsterair.org

Good luck. Hope you see a recall soon.

 

Wow...deep thoughts bro. Thanks for bringing a lot to the table.

 

ATC, right now there are 233 or so of us furloughed, which leaves about 1000 on line. The plans I have heard are that management want another 200-300 gone, and with the loss of UA flying, who knows? PBS of course facilitates this nicely, by front-loading schedules to max out those top-half folks and let the furloughs roll on. I have heard a couple of folks have gotten hired at other carriers , or left the industry altogether.

It's good to know that the IBT has changed for the better. The Teamsters as a union might not know as much about the airline industry as ALPA does, but I think that they have a better overall reputation for taking care of their membership (which may be subject to some debate/dispute). "Big" ALPA should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for the actions of the MEC Executive "Leadership", and ought to be talking to them about their actions on behalf of management, not the Pilot Group.

I think that "Big" ALPA is concerned only about MAGMEC and it's membership in terms of being part of their revenue stream. Not much else gets their attention, sadly. When the guy from Mesa was on the Flight-time/Duty time board as a principle member (not an alternate) they consistently identified him in their publications as being a Captain from Mesaba. Duh. Shows how much attention they pay to the Regionals/FFD carriers if they don't know the difference between Mesa and Mesaba, doesn't it?

 

has anyone ever successfully decertified Teamsters...and lived??

 

I've done all I can. I've recalled the captain rep for my local council, and it went though. I will not recall my F/O rep. I like her, and she's the ONLY rep I like, and that actually gives a crap about us.

I have been a volunteer, and if I weren't getting furloughed, I'd volunteer again if those people would get off the MEC.

Look - I truly believe that Mesa is headed to the ground. Ornstein has one foot in the grave and one foot on a banana peel. Voting in Teamsters wouldn't change a thing. They'd get voted in, and Mesa would go under, so it doesn't really matter if ALPA stays on property or if Teamsters replaces them. I'd just really like to give all of them a swift kick in the butt before the whole company goes under. Doing this takes care of all of them at once... kind of like getting in the last pee'd off word. I know it might sound childish, but I'd sure feel good about it!

I think Teamsters is a pretty useless organization. I'd love to have our own union like APA, SWAPA, etc.... but we don't have enough pilots, and we don't have enough pilots that give a crap.

 

Whatever happens I wish the best to those left behind at MAG. There are some great folks there. I know my entire class is slated for furlough by April '10. It just seems like a switch in unions isn't going to fix the true problems though.

 

I believe teamsters and alpa have a "no poaching" policy, in that their national offices wll not make an organized effort to entice a pilot group to switch.

In house, you could decertify alpa with the intent of going with teamsters, but there is not supposed to be any outside help for that process.

No experience with teamsters, but I haven't heard anything good about them.