Quote:
Originally Posted by tnkrdrvr
Well...we have more than a few refugees from Delta and United. The IPA president is the best union rep ever to have flown for American (obviously APA represented, funny how he never went back). If there is one thing my friends at ALPA carriers agree on, it is that their ALPA representatives tend to be disconnected from reality on the line. Pile on higher dues for a demonstrated track record of lesser returns and it’s tough to see the attraction. That said, every pilot group gets the representation they voted for. An engaged pilot group will be represented by smart, motivated leadership that will maximize gains and minimize losses. In my view, ALPA’s size only contributes to a largely apathetic pilot group. I can call my union president tonight to pass on my gripes and he will listen. Can you?
Yes, I can. And thats not only because he happens to have worked for the same airline I currently do. I’ve had the ability, and have, talked to past presidents going back to Prater. But the fact you mentioned size as a deterrent just proved the point I was making about the misconception of the ALPA structure. Unless I was wanting to talk to the president about some proposed regulation, law, or policy, I wouldn’t call him to talk about a grievance issue at my airline. For that, I call my rep, a committee chair, or even the mec chairman. And like you alluded, individual reps are as varied as barbers or doctors. Some are better than others. The lessor ones tend to lose re-election or get recalled. But that has nothing to do with IPA, APA, or ALPA. Each has their bad apples. That’s just a human nature thing. As for dues, my dues have done nothing than gone down a couple of times in the last few years. Probably because as ALPA gets more strength in numbers, you can have a lower dues rate than you could otherwise. I would guess that with all pilot groups under one union (any one), the dues could be lower than 1%.
I’m not trying to convince anyone. Just pointing out some of the misconceptions that seem to sour pilots on ALPA. I understand this is all academic and I don’t expect any union to merge with another unless they see the benefit of being ALPA or not being their current union. And other than supposedly APA, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
By the way, we have refugees from AA, UA, DL, SWA, and UPS. But as far as I know, they came and stayed because of the company, not the union. I suspect the same at UPS.