Regional Pilots should sue ALPA too
 

After this week's settlement between TWA pilots and ALPA, I have to throw this out there........Should regional pilots bring legal action against ALPA for the misrepresentation all these years?

Im sure Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, LLC, one of the firms that represented the TWA pilots would love the challenge of discovering evidence that proves ALPA's "breach of duty" toward the regional pilots all these years. Im sure someone out there has proof, beyond hearsay, of our union's misrepresentation.

Just a thought...... I bet that size a class action would make for a pretty coin ten or so years down the line.

This is why they're scrambling with their new PR blitz.

Yeah, great idea. Waste the next 12 years of your life like the TWA pilots did, and only come out with a few thousand dollars each at the end (if you're really, really lucky). I'm sure that will yield better results than actually working to make ALPA better.

There is no way to make ALPA better. Inherently it is a conflict of interest, you cannot represent both mainline and fee for departure without sacrifices being made on one side or the other.

does this mean we have a case then?

I'm not a lawyer but I think it would be incredibly difficult to prove the case you're trying to make.

If I was on a jury and a plaintiff (regional pilots) said the defendant (ALPA) wasn't representing them adequately and the plaintiff stated what their compensation is (crap salary for loads of responsibility), that would be enough for me to side with the plaintiff. That's proof enough for me.

There's no bias from your point of view, either. :rolleyes:

The fact is that most regional ALPA units are subsidized by the major carriers (fdx, dal, ual) and are cash negative all things considered. That's was the whole push for Delta to leave ALPA with the DPA movement since they felt they were serving the regional units and looking after them and not mainline.

If both sides of the equation think the entity is biased toward the other, it's probably more fair than you think.

I understand the cash flow argument. From what I've heard the only regional groups who operate at a profit for ALPA are Eagle and XJT. Obviously this can become negative when under constant contract negotiations, but generally speaking Eagle and XJT are in the black.

From a mainline perspective what do you see ALPA doing for regional pilots that they don't do for mainline? It seems to me they sign off and endorse every garbage concessionary contract that comes our way, if they're representing you in the same manner I say we ALL need to decertify.

Yes. It is stupid to have the same union represent mainline pilots and the regional pilots who fly as contractors for the same mainline. Their interests and careers are completely at odds. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to come to that conclusion. So, I ask you:

Who came first? If you look back far enough, which ALPA represented airlines do you see in the history books? Delta? United? or was it Air Wisconsin, Expressjet and Mesa? Do the pilots at an airline vote in a union or does the union force themselves on the pilots?

Who took the crappy stepping stone job hoping to get to the mainline job? You're now going to sue the union YOU voted to represent you because you expected unrealistic results?

Any idiot can see the interests of mainline ALPA and regional ALPA are at odds. Who should be responsible for recognizing that reality and voting down a union who can't adequately represent their pilot group? You (the one with the vote) or the union you ASKED to do the job?

If ALPA had turned your pilot group down for representation on the grounds of conflict of interest, you'd probably be whining for a lawsuit because they refused to represent you. Typical.