"...1500 hours and an ATP does not make you a qualified pilot."

-Bryan Bedford, President/CEO, RAH

...smh

Actually, very little of what he has to say makes sense. He simply sounds desperate to protect his greed.

Did I hear him say first year FO's at RAH make in excess of $30K? Is there a new payscale somewhere or did he just sit there and lie?

 

From another one of my later posts:
After reading the testimony of Lee Moak, I have to say, he couldn't have done a better speech. About time.

I do however, stand by my view that ALPA blew a huge opportunity. Imagine having 51,000 pilots contacting the US House of Representatives with their thoughts? That would have driven home the point that Mr. Moak is trying to make and reminded the Representatives that people, not companies, vote these Reps in or out of office.

As far as pilots not being bothered to do something, you are unfortunately correct. After long duty days and exhausting commutes, management depends on the status quo of the exhausted state of pilots to keep pilots from even thinking about raising issues. They want exhausted sheep who will do what they are told and not raise a stink.

Think about it, it starts at the interview. We all dress the same, look the same, and pretty much give the same stupid answers to their "jump through our hoop" interview system to get into this glorious career, only to slowly rise in the ranks while we starve.

Just when we can afford to pay off some of that debt load after years with the company, the company is declared bankrupt because labor cost is too high, and another company with the same assets is started with another name, yet seems to have the same managment. And if you jump through their interview hoop one more time, then you might be lucky and get hired to start over at F/O year 1 and get to starve all over again.

In the meantime, ALPA has given away more seats on scope so that the management will be "pals" and keep more pilot jobs. Yet every dang time they agree to this, it takes more pax away from mainline and gives them to regionals. When you have a lower passenger load, you don't expand mainline flying. When you don't expand mainline flying, you don't hire pilots. So then you have years if not decades of mainline hiring stagnation, locking regional pilots into regional Hell for the remainder of their careers.

WHEN THE HELL IS ALPA AND THEIR PILOTS GOING TO FIGHT SCOPE? I'll tell you when, when they transferred all the mainline flying to regionals, and converted all the high paying jobs to slave-ation wages, that's when. And you'll be stuck in a job where there is no more carrot to be dangled, because those jobs are history. Not enough people are speaking out. It reminds me of the following from WWII:

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.


So ya, you have a point, ALPA was there. But they could do a hell of a lot better job of uniting pilots and organizing them then they are doing. If they made it easier for pilots to do that, then maybe pilots WOULD make an effort to fight. ALPA isn't doing it! They are doing just enough to let them say, "We tried". And I wonder if this isn't the real dog and pony show, if the union hasn't been paid off by management. If they wanted pilots to be heard, then this was the chance. Which is why I said they blew a great opportunity when Moak went to the hill.

 

re: globalexpress's quote Notice that Moak of ALPA is invited to those meetings. Not the APA. Not USAPA. Not the IAM airline division. Not SWAPA. Not the SkyWest pilot council. Moak is there, representing us. And this isn't the first time if you have been paying attention.

Ever stop to think about why *Only* ALPA was invited????

 

I stop and think about a lot of things, Gjet. However, judging by your comments I think you are letting your cynicism to get the best of you.

 

Cynicism? No sir, it's clarity that comes from not drinking the union kook-aid. I call it as it is.

In today's news, take a look at the new Envoy.... What do you think Envoy is going to do with all those surplus pilots? Get ready for year 1 again (if you are lucky) at your new operation, and for this cycle to repeat to infinity until labor takes a stand.

Lets see how ALPA helps these poor guys out, and how their dues helped protect them from this merry-go-round.

Until you guys wake up, speak up and take action, this is going to be the norm.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

 

David Bourne from Teamsters probably would have argued with management.

 

No, it's cynicism.

The problem is that you don't understand what a union CAN do and CAN'T do. Unions don't own companies. They represent employees. Belonging to a union doesn't mean that your pension gets protected, that your pay can never be cut, that your airline can't be mismanaged into the ground, that you'll never be furloughed, or that you're not subject to marketplace forces. Unions can influence those things (sometimes), but they don't control them.

If the owners of Envoy want to shut their doors tomorrow, that is THEIR choice. There is nothing ALPA can do about that. It is THEIR company and they run it AS THEY CHOOSE as long as it complies with the contracts they have with their employees.

So how do Envoy's ALPA dues protect them from the "merry-go-round?" Pretty simple. Their dues DO NOT protect them from the idiots managing Envoy. If Envoy management wants to choose a path where they want to ignore the economic realities that exist today concerning pilot labor and continue to throw concessionary contracts to their union employees, there is NOTHING ALPA can do about that. ALPA can't force Fabregas to stop offering ridiculous contracts. All ALPA can do is say "yes" or "no" to the contract offered their pilots. That's it.

How can ALPA help those "poor guys" out? Well, ALPA is right now, aren't they? They're helping every regional pilot in the biz, in fact. Had it not been for ALPA (or any union, for that matter) on the property, right now the Envoy pilots would be flying under an incredibly concessionary, long term contract. What happens then? Now every other regional would be forced to match that concessionary Envoy contract if they didn't want to shrink. And if the other ALPA regionals said "no" to concessions themselves and were forced to shrink as punishment, then you'd be on here complaining about how terrible ALPA is at THOSE regionals. It seems to me that ALPA, and the Envoy pilots (more significantly), are doing much for the industry right now.

Now if the Envoy ALPA pilots continue with their (balsy) stand, eventually do suffer the consequences of refusing to accept a ridiculously concessionary contract, and are furloughed, there is NOTHING ALPA can do about that. ALPA needs to honor its pilots' wishes. After the vote it's on Fabregas and AMR. About the only thing ALPA can do is perhaps get them preferential interviews at other regionals, which they won't need considering the regional job environment.

And your poem refers to a Nazi purging, which is inappropriate to the situation that exists now. Other pilots ARE standing up to management, aren't they? Didn't ExpressJet say no? Didn't Republic say no? Didn't Envoy say no? Isn't that what is supposed to be happening?

Now what you're implying is that you want "ALPA" to do something? You're the president of ALPA. What do you do? And if it involves some sort of "Code Red" which would be against the RLA, by all means, show us all how it's done by starting a website, putting your name at the top of the list, and organizing that stoppage until your demands (whatever they are) are met. You don't need ALPA to be a tough guy. Go for it. Show ALPA how it's done! What's the date going to be and what are we doing? A sickout? Show up for work and set the brakes? A good 'ole fashioned sit in? What's the plan?

 

Your union dues can't be used for political lobbying. That is why ALPA has the PAC and why most other unions have no voice at all in DC. If you want to get votes in DC it has to be done the tried and true way. You have to buy them!

 

You have little understanding of the political process. A call to action which is what you are discussing is a effective tool if timed correctly. You don't employ it long before there is even a vote. So far there are no indications that legislation changing the hours will even make it to the floor of the house or senate. If you are a ALPA member you might want to get in touch with the political affairs guys and get the rest of the story. You might be very surprised at what they are doing. How much did you donate to the PAC?

 

Watch the whole video of the meeting....Air Service to Small and Rural Communities - YouTube