Have you read the contract? If so did you notice that there are implementation dates that are up to a year after the date of signing?

If the "UPA ALPA contract reps" that you're referring to are the members of the Joint Implementation Task Team (JIT) which comprises of Negotiating Committee Members from both CAL and UAL along with SME's, then yes, they are absolutely essential and should be in place until the job is done. Until the contract is fully implemented and there is agreement as to how the CBA is administered by UAL, the JITs full engagement and over site is crucial. In my opinion they don't get paid enough, nor will they ever get the 4 years of fulltime/overtime work on your behalf back.

FPL for handfull of pilots is a drop in the bucket when you consider what's at stake. Out of curiosity, what does your tie tac look like?

 

Yes I did read the contract. Maybe you can explain why it takes a year to implement it and why these folks need to be unqualified working out of their homes and making more than other hard working union members and line pilots? Is the contract done? Is not the implementation dates already set by the LOA? Please enlighten me?
IMO we have people that just want to get paid as a pilot without being one. Anyone have an idea what is longest a committee member has gone without being qualified in their equipment, getting that extra pay, working out of their home and not missing special days with their families? One year, Two years, Three? Now I know why it will take a year to implement the CBA. What is the incentive for folks in these positions to do this quicker? It certainly doesn’t benefit them or the company.
My tie tac - ALPA. My bags ALPA. My lanyard -ALPA. If you think this is an attack against our union, you’re wrong. If you think this is an attack against the fraud waste and abuse by a few within our union you are correct.

 

I know we complain about the leadership and politics of ALPA; but, thank you, and all volunteers, for your hard work.

 

My last 3 years at sUAL before I left I flew with 3 FO's that were "involved" with the union before the furlough in late 2001. I asked what they did on furlough. They said "I worked for ALPA". The more questions I asked, the more defensive they got.

Apparently ALPA takes care of their own. When a normal line pilot gets furloughed, he has to fend for himself. When an ALPA cronie gets furloughed, there is a job created for them, and the remaining pilots get charged extra as a "furlough fund".

The current ALPA furlough coordinator at sUAL has now held the position twice of furlough. If I remember right, he got a pay raise when he was furloughed, the first time, and went to work for ALPA. I don't know what his current deal is with ALPA, but he holds the same title he did from 2002 till he came back to work at UAL and I worked with him.

I questioned all of them about how they got the job. Was the job advertised for all UAL pilots? Did they interview for the job? You can pretty much guess at the evasive answers I got.

 

Ask the company why an IT company with wings couldn't integrate the required systems at the date of signing, it's something that ALPA has no control over, although the UAL corp. couldn't pull off the integration. The members of the JIT are in place to enforce your contractual rights that the company has not yet implemented.

The CBA is signed, the implementation is not complete. That is a very important point to consider.

You said you read the contract, what's your question?

Based on your observations, I'm guessing your not a regular at union meetings. You do know you can call your rep and get all these answers, right? Fiscal responsibility is the duty of every union member, but you're so off base it's not even funny.

 

Yes, they're called union members, all of them. Even you.

Furloughs suck no doubt, but should you blame the union? Blame the company? Blame the economy? Who furloughed you, ALPA? How dare the union create a full time job for a furloughed union member right!? Sorry you didn't get that job, but your welcome for the COBRA insurance payment. In a perfect world, what was the answer?

 

Your right about two things.
1. I do not attend regual union meetings. Kind of hard to do when your working and can't attend those meetings. I do read the emails from my union and ask qurstions of my rep who I think is honest and hard working. However, I also think he is protective of those that abuse the system within ALPA.

2. You are correct that this is not funny. You still have not answered my basic questions but passed the blame.

Do mind if I ask you a couple of questions. Are a line pilot or work out of home for the union? Are you unqualed in your equipment?

 

Passed blame? What don't you understand about the contract is signed but not fully implemented? You've been so vague about what the problem is and you're also unable or unwilling to name an individual or a committee, how could I possibly pass blame? I'm not even sure who you're talking about other than the ambiguous "those guys who abuse the system".
Yes I'm a line pilot, qualified and current in my equipment who also volunteers to do union work. What a concept huh? You?

 

Thank You!

 

There are a million tiny items that need to be worked out by the JIT. Now I know that all of us fully trust management, and know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that management will fully implement the UPA fairly and equitably, but I prefer to have someone from my team watching the ball. Also, keep in mind that there are two versions of ALPA that really don't trust each other either, so there are a lot of watchers----for lack of a better term. Further, everyone on both sides is afraid------man this is extremely important----that some issue or another that is not properly addressed, will negatively impact their side of the ISL.

Quote:

IMO we have people that just want to get paid as a pilot without being one. Anyone have an idea what is longest a committee member has gone without being qualified in their equipment, getting that extra pay, working out of their home and not missing special days with their families? One year, Two years, Three? Now I know why it will take a year to implement the CBA. What is the incentive for folks in these positions to do this quicker? It certainly doesn’t benefit them or the company.

Yep, to find guys who want to be airline pilots but don't want to actually fly, you need look no further than the 23rd floor in Chicago, DENTK, IAHPS, CPOs, ALPA, LTD, etc. On the other hand, this doesn't mean that they don't do a good job. A pilot who loves to fly airplanes is probably not going to be the best at one of these jobs because his head is in the clouds. There are certainly slackers, but most of the union volunteers that I know put in many more hours than they are paid for. In my years as a union volunteer, I have spent many unpaid hours each month replying to emails, helping pilots, and drilling into data to determine what it really means. When the average line pilot gets home, all he needs to do is not answer the phone---problem solved. Not so for your volunteers. At least not if they take their job seriously.

As far as being qualified in equipment, why? Suppose you know that position X is going to be non-stop full-time for three years. Why waste the time and money keeping that person qualified. Let's see, if you haven't actually flown a trip for 12 months, then you probably need several days to study, three days for CQ/MV/LOE, and then a few days more for your re-test after you fail.

Is there fraud and waste? Absolutely! Is it the norm? NO!


Just keep in mind that every time that you or some other pilot attacks a union volunteer, you make is less likely that he/she will return. That is how you end up with guys who go to the dark side, and how you end up with perfectly qualified guys who just drop out. Then the less qualified hacks end up in important positions.