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The whole thing was sickening.
We'll disagree on Prater's roll in the age 65 change. He was a figure head and got the spot as a gift to CAL pilots for returning to ALPA. I find it hard to believe that the board allowed Prater to go against the wishes of themselves and a clear membership majority. I think you guys are manufacturing some of this stuff. To what end, I don't know.Originally Posted by JoePatroni
You are dead wrong about Prater. I flew with him regularly YEARS before he became the head of ALPA and it was clear as day that he firmly believed the age should change. His various positions at ALPA leading up to him running the show, in my opinion, was just filling the squares until he could finally get the change going ........he was anything but "happened to be there." There were hoards of CAL guys spending days on end in DC knocking on doors and talking to senators/congressmen, it was an extremely well organized effort that got pooh poohed by just about everyone. One of the ringleaders wormed his way into the training department when he turned sixty and then came back to the line when the age changed.The whole thing was sickening.
To be clear, Prater did absolutely nothing as ALPA president. I find it very hard to believe he was smart enough or had the long term planning skills or time to turn the government around on the age 65 ruling. There has been a lot written on this subject and I'm inclined to believe that over the conspiracies you've brought forward. The CAL guys are the only ones repeating the Prater story without laughing.
Just for the record, I'm for doing away with the age discrimination altogether. Allow all pilots ever on our seniority lists that were forced to retire because of age to return at their full seniority. The only limitation is their ability to pass the current medical and performance standards that current pilot are required to meet.