Delta Pilots Association-Yes!!!
 

Top 10 reasons for Delta pilots to get their card in.

1. Financial transparency to members – One click access to ALL the financials is available to EVERY DPA Member. Once you are a member, login and click “DPA Finance Log” in the sidebar. External audits will validate the data the Members ALREADY have. We will know our dues are being spent wisely.

2. Financial efficiency – NO subsidizing the regional carriers who want our flying. How our current dues are distributed: More than 16% (approx. $689,000 in 2010) of the MECʼs account allocation for operating income is redistributed to smaller ALPA carriers. ALL DPA dues go completely to meeting Delta Pilotsʼ needs and desires.

3. Financial responsibility – Reduce excessive and unnecessary spending of Member dues. (For example - $6,500/mo housing allowance for the President, $4,500/ mo housing allowance for V.P.s, $1,600/mo car allowance, $498,000 annual compensation for the President, $120,000/year secretaries, $175,000/year magazine editors, massive bonus pensions, $329.00 per night hotel rooms, $260 per day per diem, etc.)*DPA Officers and Block Reps will fly partial lines every month and will earn a reasonable reward for service to the Delta Pilots.

4. Seniority Block Representation – Your Rep comes from your seniority group regardless of base affiliation, promoting cohesion, participation and involvement in YOUR issues through technology. The Reps know the issues of their constituents because they are living the successes and trials of their group. Get to know your seniority block Members and your Block Rep. Establish communication and common goals for your group. Move your ideas forward. Keep your Block Rep indefinitely if he or she is representing you effectively; remove them if they are not. Participate in Block surveys with real-time feedback keeping Reps accountable for Membersʼ wishes.

5. True “Bottom Up” representation – the Block Reps dictate to the President who is simply voicing the Membersʼ desires...not the other way around. (Remember the Age 60 legislation survey where the Members overwhelmingly said, “Donʼt support a change!”, but the leadership defied that mandate entirely! Whether or not you agree with the change, it is a clear example of failure to respect member desires.)

6. Professional Negotiators/Contract Lawyers/Accountants – No more pilots in the seat negotiating complex legal documents......the pilots state their desires and the pros handle it unemotionally without personal agendas. The President will read and understand the Contract before he/she signs it. Contracts will be simpler and written with a focus on enforcement and less loopholes.

7. Freedom to take back flying without fear of lawsuits from the regional carriers who share membership in ALPA with us – No Duty of Fair Representation conflicts with regional affiliates. (see Ford/Cooksey vs. ALPA).

8. Freedom to seek changes to our profession that help us – CAPA (Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations), the current voice for over 28,000 pilots at its member airlines: Allied Pilots Association (American Airlines), Independent Pilots Association (UPS), Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (Southwest Airlines), and US Airline Pilots Association (US Airways). CAPA wants an ATP requirement for 121 flight decks; ALPA thinks 1500 hours is too high and should be reduced.

9. Freedom to lower our dues to 1% from 1.95% while adding new Member benefits along the way with the huge surplus that comes from efficiency.

10. Freedom to seek what is best for Delta Pilots exclusively.

I'm in. I decided if I made a small donation to the cause it would motivate me to get fully involved. Lets keep the momentum up- the cards have been accruing at a faster rate lately it seems...

1. View individual union volunteers schedule in Icrew
2. Those regional carriers now can fly "struck work" without regards to frequency/capacity
3. Define "reasonable reward"
4. Representation in any other form is still representation
5. "True bottom up" any member now has the ability to submit a recall of their LEC rep
Just cause you support something (age 60) doesn't mean it won't change
6. Last I checked, ALPA lawyers get paid to "lawyer" not fly airplanes
7. CAL = no lawsuits for 50 seat scope and no pending lawsuits for said scope restriction in current contract proposal
8. What has USAPA done to help industry?
9. "Surplus of efficiencies" = airline management jargon
10. What's best for me might not be what's best for profession

When the JCBA and ISL are done at UNICAL I can see this happening.

Over 12,000 pilots to represent, and everybody in leadership flies every month, no excuses? Wow, leadership will be VERY busy in DPA, possibly to the detriment of representing the line pilots.
FedEx ALPA has this. Why couldn't DALPA? If the Delta pilots want it, you don't need to ditch ALPA to get it.
If you have an issue with the way DALPA does it now, you run the same risk with DPA.

2 issues:

1. if you're a pro negotiator/lawyer/accountant, you're likey not a former pro pilot. It's often difficult for lawyers to recognize the contract minutia that separates poor from superior when it comes to pilot QOL. Just b/c it costs the company more doesn't mean its better for pilots. So, you put a pilot in the negotiations too - and you're back to the way ALPA currently does it.
2. Contracts will simpler? The DPA President understanding it won't necessarily equate to the average line pilot understanding it. Lee Moak understands the current DALPA contract. DPA will produce contracts written by lawyers with no pilot input, right? Just seems like a contradiction, 100% lawyer authorship = easy to understand by line pilots.

#11 ALPA is going to be bankrupt when the TWA guys get done with them.

I'll be dead and you'll be retired before a dime of that is paid, my opinion.
Just say no to the DPA.

How far away from this actually happening is it?

I don't really have a dog in this fight but thought I would share a little experience. FedEx was ALPA in the early 90's, had many pilots that did not like them and voted them off the property for the FedEx Pilots Association (FPA) in 1996. After getting their arse handed to them in contract talks a few years later, even the original supporters of FPA realized they needed ALPA back and they were voted back in with over 92% (of the 95% membership participation) voting for ALPA in 2002. Almost all the pilots who were pro FPA joined ALPA the second time around. Lots of wasted time with no raise or real improvements while we fought internal battles. Your mileage may vary but it might be worth taking a look at what happened at FedEx before you decide an independent union is the way to go..

Was that time "wasted," or was it necessary to show ALPA that the FDX guys were sick of their ******* and wanted some legit representation? ALPA needs a wake-up call in regards to almost every group it represents IMHO.