When was the last time that ALPA....
 

... took a major industry wide stance, against external powers/pressures, to improve the career of airline pilots?

I ask this because there are so many things out there that ALPA has just rolled over and made a little noise (or none at all), and yet not made something happen. Countless things have come through against our careers, or been promised and not lived up to standards. I'm sick of it. I want to finally see a "win" for pilots with something... anything...

> TSA scanners
> Crewpass
> Rest rules
> Age 65
> Expansion of regional flying
> Railway labor act
> Bankrupcy atrocities
> First Officer ATP requirements

Why can't ALPA just take a stand and use the amazing collective power of ALPA pilots to make SOMETHING happen for us? Take a stance for once! Every "win" we've had has been a compromise almost negating any wins we've gained with losses in other areas (ie: rest rules... more hours of flying a day?? ... supporting an ATP with college class credits???). There have been COUNTLESS opportunities for us to take advantage of situations presented to us (such as the Colgan crash) and yet ALPA does nothing but send out a few mushy emails with pictures of Prater looking like the toughest walrus in the world.

If every ALPA pilot walked off the job tomorrow, the entire global economy would collapse. We have power beyond belief, but are pushed around like a 4th grader getting his lunch money stolen on the playground.

Didn't you read the latest email? CrewPASS is coming! It's now a top priority!!

I mean, it's not like we haven't gotten other emails like that over the past 6 years or so... oh wait.

ALPA in action! I mean... inaction. They don't negotiate through the media because they have absolutely no clue how to even put out a timely press release and roll over at every turn.

I'm putting out the high/low on how absolutely appalled we are going to be when the FTDT rules come out... then we will here "we had to take their side because they would have steamrolled us in other areas."

So true. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"...it was bound to happen anyway, so at least by supporting <insert your favorite ALPA faux pax>, ALPA gets to have a voice in implementation..."

Just watch, if/when crewpass is passed in the coming months, ALPA will then state emphatically it was due to their powerful relationships in DC and ability to cut to the chase. In fact what will have brought the idea of crewpass or something like crewpass to the forefront, enough to get it passed, will be the very public outrage by pilots and other unions that got the media and therefore decision makers attention. Oh but wait, ALPA maintains you cannot make your case or influence the decision makers in the court of public appeal. Hmmm

Last week, ALPA president Capt. John Prater met with the secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, and the TSA administrator, John Pistole, to urge their support for obtaining CrewPASS in the near term. Late on Friday, ALPA received an invitation to meet with the TSA this afternoon to discuss this important program. ALPA was informed that the administrator had taken ALPA’s message seriously and that he wants to see CrewPASS implemented as quickly as possible. To help facilitate that, TSA has now dropped its previous requirement for pilots to be enrolled with a biometric (e.g., a fingerprint); this provision will be restored in the future, but what it means for now is that CrewPASS becomes much simpler and less expensive to implement than previously.

The TSA is meeting with the airlines tomorrow (Tuesday) and has asked us to coordinate with the other parties in an effort to facilitate the success of this program. Capt. Prater has reached out to the other crewmember unions and industry officials to develop a consensual solution.

TSA today emphasized that ALPA had “cleared the way” for CrewPASS to become a success.

It don't mean squato until it is a reality. Prater is trying to save any modicum of a legacy as a good "leader". I don't care if it does pass.. he's an epic FAIL.

If you choose to truly represent the interests of the pilots of the union you supposedly lead, you are sure to make enemies in high places, and those enemies will not appoint you to a government job after leaving the union position.

The interests of the line pilot should be represented with extreme prejudice against any and all forces that oppose those interests. But what we seem to have now is essentially an impotent media service that delivers us a continuous line of bad news of all they cannot accomplish. (Along with detailed instructions about how to properly submit ourselves to an insane process of humiliation they could not prevent).

and yet ALPA does nothing but send out a few mushy emails with pictures of Prater looking like the toughest walrus in the world.



Fn hilarious!

I thought he had turned into a whale during his admin but the walrus is a better analogy because of the mustache

It seems like the CrewPass is always down at BWI