If ALPA is a union, why do Mesa, AWAC, Pinnacle, Comair, etc. all have different contracts? The reason is because each of these pilot groups acts independently of the others when it comes to contract negotiations. The pilot groups are provided with resources from ALPA National, but it is the pilots on property who negotiate the deals. Why is this? Why does our union leave it to us (pilots who have no background in union/management negotiations or sometimes even business) to negotiate our futures without the solidarity and expertise of our national union?
Because this is the way that the pilots want it. Go to your next Local Council meeting and bring a resolution that calls for ALPA National to negotiate all contracts for each airline. If you aren't the only pilot there besides your reps (a very likely possibility, since so many ALPA pilots are apathetic and don't attend meetings), then someone else will probably get pissed off because you want to put power in the hands of National to handle your own contract. You see, pilots want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to be able to negotiate their own contracts and handle their own problems at their airlines, but then they want to blame National when everything doesn't work out as they hoped it would. For every pilot that wants to see a national seniority list, or a national contract, or yada, yada, yada, there's another pilot that wants to keep everything in control of their own MEC.