To My Fellow Colgan Pilots:

It was one year ago this week that we fell four votes short of electing ALPA as our collective bargaining representative. Over that past year, every one of us has faced a moment in which we had no one to call to help solve a problem with management, felt alone in our pursuit to build a sustainable lifestyle at Colgan or watched Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. make decisions affecting Colgan pilots without hearing our collective voice. Those moments have caused all of us to think repeatedly about the lost opportunities of last year.

We have already begun a new effort to secure ALPA as our bargaining representative. We believe that ALPA is the best possible collective bargaining representative for the pilots of Colgan Air. The resources that they can provide to us and their influence on all aspects of our industry make the choice clear.

Many of you have already seen various ALPA pamphlets and Authorization for Representation cards at your base, or spoken with an Organizing Committee volunteer about the drive. ALPA has pledged their total support for our efforts, but building the foundation for a successful election and a unified pilot group must begin with the efforts of Colgan pilots like you and me.

Those of us signed below, along with many others, have pledged our time and efforts to ensure that all of your questions about representation are answered. Please contact me or any of the OC members listed below if you have not received an Authorization for Representation card, have any questions about representation or ALPA, or would like to have materials sent to you. If you would like to assist in the drive, please let one of us know.

We will also be hosting informational events with ALPA pilot volunteers on Monday, August 25 in IAD and Tuesday, August 26 in IAH. We hope you can join us.

We encourage you to learn all you can about ALPA and the many roles it plays in our industry. And remember: It is OUR Careers, OUR Choice, OUR Union.

In unity,


Captain John Antoniades
First Officer Charles Poston
Captain Mark Atchue
Captain Mark Que
Captain Benjamin Bray
Captain Vincent Rainaldo
Captain Scott Gates
First Officer David Schwartz
Captain Matt Green
Captain Mark Segaloff
First Officer Geoffrey Huppe
Captain Michael Wheeler
First Officer Kyra Ko
First Officer Mitchell White
Captain Matthew Malone
First Officer Carla Widman
Captain Timothy Newkirk
First Officer Todd Yero
Captain Barry Nomann
Captain Rizwan Zahid
Captain Brian Oakes
Captain Joe Zuffoletto

Fantastic! Go get 'em!

Good work. Thanks for your efforts. Vote ALPA guys. There is no sense in having two pilot unions under one company. That defies the definition of unity.

Vote ALPA.

Everyone wish us luck!! Let's not screw this up again fellow Colgan pilots.

mailed my card in last week.

OH boy here we go again. I am just really worried about something. Being stapled at the bottom of pinnacle's list when and if we get ALPA. Someone tell me it will not happen. It looks like according to ALPAS merger policy the numbers are close where we would be stapled and if they combine companies a lot of our captains will become Fo's again.

Matt Malone..........hes funny

Many people have posted this. We cannot get stapled because of the transportation bill sign by President Bush last December. If you are still scared vote for Teamsters.

I keep hearing this, and honestly I don't know where it's coming from. Personally, I don't think that most people have actually read the ALPA merger policy. No where in there does it say anything about a staple, instead it outlines a process for finding a fair and equitable solution. For any Colgan Pilot's who haven't read the merger please check it out. It's only 4 pages, but if you just want to skip to the chase check out Secton G.

http://www.alpa.org/DesktopModules/A...d=506&TabId=93


I think it's also worth noting that we don't seem anywhere near actually merging anytime soon.

agreed.....