ALPA doesn't "make money" representing regionals. On the contrary. ALPA provides many benefits that others cannot.

ALPA is you. You don't set goals, agendas, and make clear what you guys want from ALPA. You as ALPA set your own goals, agendas and make clear what you want.

As ALPA members, YOU would decide what YOU want in terms of the scope.

Even if your premise is true, its not all about the money. Not even close.

Did the teamsters or any other pilot union poll its members and had a voice at congress or the FAA?

Unions cannot change the economics of a profession. They can only try to make things better despite it.

Astar pilots are in danger. Not ABX.

Your MEC appoints the negotiating committee members. These are the people who negotiate with management. The MEC decides, with the recomendations of the negotiating committee if they want to use ALPA's Economic & Financial Analysis and Communications department. They can also decide to use a professional negotiator or use any outside entity. This is only for advising purposes. The MEC makes the final decisions. The only say that ALPA national has is that the president has to sign the final agreement.

Each ALPA airline is represented individually by their respective MECs. They have their own seperate negotiating committee and even have separate E&FA personnel appointed to different airlines.

"ALPA’s regular Active member dues rate is 1.95% of the member’s airline income subject to dues. That’s the easy part. More complex is the manner in which the dues income is allocated to provide funding for all of the union’s activities. This structure has been carefully honed over time and has served ALPA members well. All of the allocations are pieces of the gross amount generated by the 1.95% of each member’s airline income. (As a reminder, the MEC is the Master Executive Council, the highest governing body at the airline level, and is made up of the elected status representatives from each domicile, plus the MEC chairman, vice chairman and secretary-treasurer.)

The first 0.35% of the 1.95% is allocated to the Special MEC Reserve Account (SMRA). SMRA funds are allocated directly to each MEC, which uses SMRA only after the MEC operating income (discussed below) is exhausted. The MEC has the option to budget and spend SMRA funds or save them for future use. The MEC may retain unspent SMRA funds for future years to support contract negotiations or special MEC needs, or if budgetary conditions permit, the MEC can approve refunding the money to members in good standing annually.

The next component of dues – 0.10% of the 1.95% - is allocated to the ALPA Administrative and Support Account (A&S), discussed below.

After deducting the two components of dues allocation mentioned above, 1.50% of the 1.95% remains; it is called “operating income.” This 1.50% is allocated to the MECs, the A&S account, and the Operating Contingency Fund (OCF). The MEC account allocation is 24% of the 1.50%, the A&S account allocation is 71.50% of the 1.50%, and the OCF account allocation is 4.50% of the 1.50%.

The MEC account allocation (24% of the 1.50%) is distributed to each MEC, except that ALPA’s largest groups are allocated 20% of the 1.50%. The remaining 4% (24%-20%) of operating income of the largest pilot groups is redistributed to smaller MECs throughout ALPA. In essence, ALPA’s larger pilot groups provide a subsidy to ALPA’s smaller pilot groups to ensure adequate funding for their union activities. The MECs utilize this allocation to fund the operation of pilot group field offices, wages/benefits of support staff assigned to the pilot group, MEC committee work, etc.

The A&S account allocation (71.50% of the 1.50%, plus 0.10% of the 1.95% discussed above) provides services that are available to all ALPA pilot groups, including Representation, Economic & Financial Analysis, Legal, Retirement and Insurance, Communications, Engineering and Air Safety, Membership and Council Services. The A&S account allocation also provides the per capita budget funding for all Local Executive Councils of ALPA.

In addition, the A&S account supports Administrative Services such as the National Officers, General Manager, Legislative Affairs, Governing Bodies, Finance, Information Systems, and Human Resources. When an MEC uses the services of the A&S departments described above, that MEC is not charged for the services provided by those departments. This is the ALPA “toolbox” of services that includes professional, technical, administrative, and clerical personnel. The central pooling and allocation of these resources has enabled ALPA to ensure the availability of highly qualified and experienced personnel to all member pilot groups on a cost-effective basis.

The OCF account allocation (4.50% of the 1.50% of operating income) primarily provides funds to smaller pilot group MECs during times of financial need, usually as a result of contract negotiations. Grants from ALPA’s Major Contingency Fund (currently valued at $81 million) are also available for these purposes. A large portion of the OCF is allocated in advance to the smaller pilot groups’ MECs during the budget preparation process based on anticipated negotiating schedules and other special needs. The OCF allocation supports the organizing efforts of ALPA, and a portion of the OCF is also set aside for contingencies and projects of special interest to the union."

Also, each Local Council is budgeted $44 per member ($4,400 minimum).

ALPAs merger policy is to integrate in a "fair and equitable" way. If unable to agree it is sent to mediation and then binding arbitration.

http://www.skywestalpa.org/documents...ion_Policy.pdf

I urge all of my fellow colgan pilots to sign a card and send it in. As for which union should represent us, I don't know, but I do know that we need a contract. Badly. Management has proven lately that it is not concerned with our quality of life. We need work rules, and we need a legal backing for them. Scheduling/management has been ruthlessly extending us, drafting us, and extorting money from us via vague and unenforceable pay policies, and more. They will try anything they can to keep from paying you what you are owed, and run on the hopes that you will not stand up for what you earned.

The bottom line is this: right now, they can change the rules without notice or warning, and they ARE changing the rules in their favor. We've waved our run-up credits good-bye. Repositions require at least one phone call in order to recieve credit. <10 day off credits are like pulling teeth as they come up with excuses why this day doesn't count, it wasn't a "guaranteed" day off, or whatever excuse they can cook up on the spot. We need very badly to solidify our work rules, so we and they know what they can and can't do, and vice versa.

Please, sign a card, and vote for your preferred union when that time comes. We've all come to realize this year that we may be here longer than we expected, and we need to ensure that it's a place we can continue to work, without unnecessary strains on our personal lives and budgets.

AMEN BRO!
All this back and forth B.S.about which Union is better,is starting to get real old! We should feel lucky to have a choice.

Choosing between ALPA and the IBT is kind of like voting in the upcoming Presidential election; neither choice is especially spectacular and you're just trying to decide which is less bad.

If you ask me this is what is wrong with ALPA. If we are a national union shouldnt we all be the same strength. Why cant we take the negotiating teams that achieve success and get that for everyone. I mean that why we send some of our wages to national for right, or is it Prater's salary.

As others have stated before our union will only be as strong as the MEC and pilots supporting them.

I made a vague example when I used the terms, "per diem for day trips, block or better per leg, and extension pay."

Sure, with Teamsters we can still negiotiate a great contract... it'll be up to our pilots to decide that. But the same can be said for ALPA. My point was, given that ALPA has more tools available for pilots such as lawyers whose specialty is aviation, the war chest, and aeromedical advice I believe ALPA is the better choice... This is based solely on the type of devices they have available for us to use as pilots.

It seems to me a lot of the pro-Teamsters guys at Colgan didn't want ALPA last year, and now realize we need a union because we aren't a mom and pop operation anymore. So to avoid looking like a bunch of hypocrites they side with the Teamsters and chalk it up to being anti-ALPA.

We need to forge a strong bond with the pilots of Pinnacle... not try to fight for each others equipment while management laughs at us. And as someone stated earlier, when the lists are integrated we'll need to vote for one union. And Pinnacle has more pilots than Colgan.

If you want to vote for the Teamsters because you think that they are the best choice for Colgan then by all means go ahead. But Pinnacle pilots will not be happy, ALPA will feel cheated and want to show their strength, and we could end up at odds with one another... Instead of working together as nearly 2000 pilots strong.

Personally I'd love to see a recognized in-house union but we are too small of a pilot group for that to work. (not the company puppet outfit that is the Colgan Pilot Group, which isn't legally recognized)

The ALPA Collective Bargaining Committee already does that. The problem is that the economics at airlines like FedEx are not the same as those such as Mesa. Each airline has different amounts of leverage to use for bargaining. But you alluded to the fundamental problem, that is, ALPA is NOT a national union.

cya guys on Tuesday and wednesday :)

I have noticed a lot the same. Most Anti-ALPA guys here at Colgan who are now pro teamsters are the same individuals who came up with ridiculous, rumor passed assumptions. Most were too lazy to learn the facts for themselves. If you tried to show them the truth, they turn their head the other way, then later on say we didn't show them proof.

That's what really worries me the Teamsters drive. A lot of those supporting them are the same people who wouldn't spend a few minutes looking into the facts for themselves (other then looking on flightinfo). Now they support Teamsters. I bet they still haven't looked into the facts and thus leading this blindly. The people running the drive won't put their names out in the open, their only reason when asked why Teamsters is "Dues are Cheaper" and they still don't know anything about contracts, Allegheny-Mohawk, mergers, or the RLA. If you talk to a Teamsters OC member (if you can find one seeing that most are hiding from management)and they can't explain Allegheny-Mohawk and how it would be applied to a merger then I'd suggest disregarding anything they have to say about unions.

Not sure about that Popa, I can think of one that wants more govenment higher taxes and has much more shady friends than airline management. But, yes your right one of the unions has to be voted in. Tell your friends.