Too bad that LTD occurred simultaneously to her being recalled. I’m sure she would much preferred going out and flying the line with her fellow pilots. Either way we had to pay for her FPL or her LTD.

 

Funny how that works. I hope she never weasels her way back to having a seat at the table. AW is a special sort of individual.

 

Thank you for saying this. I'm a retired DL guy and my son flys for UA so I look at your APC section to keep up on current events. I also was a LEC chairman at DL. In my experience none of the guys that served with me in my council were in it for anything other than trying to improve the profession. I and my fellow council reps certainly had a lot of trip drops but we were very busy putting together contract 2000 which was a tumultuous time. Those who we placed in committee work also did the vast majority of their work with very few trip drops. They served because they wanted to improve conditions for all. I'm not denying there are not some who do this work for personal selfish reasons, but those in my experience are few. Personally, I sometimes regret doing the work because of the family events I could not be home for when my sons were teenagers. I like to think the DL and UA pilots (DL + 1%) had much better contracts because of all the volunteers who took a slice of time from their lives to do the work.

 

You’re welcome. I post it because I don’t want this narrative taking hold that ALPA and the company are the same. They most certainly are not. Thanks for all the volunteer work you did for our profession 👍🏼

 

Unfortunately, the few ruin it for the many in the eyes of many. I vehemently disagree with that notion and as an ALPA volunteer it's hard not to take it personally when people start criticizing the entirety of the union. I couldn't care less about the tribalism at the top of the MEC. I care in that I want to be represented by upstanding individuals who are in it for the right reasons but I don't care in that what happens up there doesn't generally affect any of the work that 95% of the ALPA volunteers do.

The people I work with on my committee are all doing it just because we want to help. Nobody is getting rich, only two positions ever see any FPL, and when they do it's not much. We do it because it's an important job and people deserve to have a place to get information.

What I've found is the most outspoken critics of the union are the absolute last ones to get involved. They want all of the benefits without putting in any of the hard work themselves.

Your union is you. We get the reps and people we vote for. Don't like it? Get involved. It's not hard.

 

This is the boiler plate of every person doing ALPA work. Don’t complain and if you do complain it’s not valid because you aren’t doing ALPA work.

Many of us that are critical of the union have served in our careers. If anything it gives you insight into some the fraud waste and abuse that is within the union. I don’t paint all ALPA reps or committee members with a broad brush and say they are all corrupt. History has shown that there are people doing ALPA work for reasons other than serving the pilot group.

If UA ALPA leadership is the best then why can’t we get a UA pilot elected as ALPA national chairman. Outside of Benchke we haven’t been able to get a candidate across the finish line. We always have infighting, backstabbing and people like Anne and Todd that float to the top as candidates. The largest ALPA pilot group being unable to field a successful national chairman seems odd.

 

I’ve seen this before—that LCPs are aligned with management types…say more. Why not the folks who work at TK? No sarcasm, I’m genuinely curious.

 

When I say check airmen I mean everyone associated with training.

 

So what? Is having a ALPA President from UAL somehow going to make life at UAL better for the pilots? No.

Yes UAL ALPA has had its internal issues, and that has manifested itself in a lack of unity in terms of getting someone elected as ALPA president in recent times (to me that is post 2000. I can’t speak to the previous 70 years) but at the end of the day it also doesn’t really make a difference in the quality of our contract. And that is all that matters..

 

id be happy if we just got rid of the hats.