ASA Capt Brian Wilson

[400ADude]

I remember when he was an EMB120 instructor, didn't have the seniority to hold Captain, but by whatever method, got hired as an IP with zero PIC line flying time.

I can think of at least one other management wannabe FO to IP story, who also likes to write the occasional "You bad, bad naughty silly pilots" article.

No one at ASA outside the GO takes any of them seriously.

Niether should the Delta pilots.

...................................................

 

[Whine Lover]

His Mother should be proud. Two pages and counting about what a defective product she produced.

Ouch.

Well, at least he's a "Check Airman" ( OOOOH ) so he's got that going for him.

NOT.


YKW

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

http://forums.flightinfo.com/showthread.php?t=79326

WOW... in less than five minutes one can see this is clreary an anti union
website. With gushing claims of the great non union Jetblue.

http://www.airlinesafety.com/Unions/ALPAIrrelevant.htm

It seems the incredibly successful SWA and thier heavily unioinzed labor force
is quite the annomoly. I guess SWA's management stinks and thier union is
really really great.

Number one Rule Brian.....

Air Line Pilots Do Not Run Airlines.


Yet you write your article as if they should. Well they can't and won't and shouldn't and couldn't.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian
it has become clear to me that ALPA,
and indeed all AFL-CIO unions, are far more
interested in acquiring and projecting
political power than they are in representing
the long-term best interests of their members

Brian, ALPA and the AFL-CIO are political organizations They are very much interested in political power. Did you know that the ATA, airline managements own political force, was created five years after ALPA,
in 1936, in part to counter ALPA's political effectiveness?

Now if you meant personal political power, that
is a different story. You may have a point, but I don't think it is as severe as the uninformed would like to think....
And if the common member wants to address too much personal politcal
power, then the member must get involved politically to take back his power. In addition that is a corrupt leadership issue, not a organizational issue.
More on this later....

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian
Unfortunately, post-deregulation, it is no longer the case that unions can indirectly drive customer purchasing decisions, nor that operational costs no longer matter----since the customers now have free market choice.

Please explain the SWA effect.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian
ALPA fits that post-deregulation description perfectly; it continues to live in a 1976 alternate reality, trying the same obsolete approaches that have no place in the 2006 reality. It is as much ALPA who has its head in the sand, as it is management.


Brian, they key to a successful airline is todays market is productivity.
The only way to increase productivity is to tear down departmental walls,
create a culture of teamwork and eglitariansm. The legacy carriers are too
entrenched in heirachy, big ego CEOs and the blame game. No where in your
article to you address Corp Elite compensation for poor productivity. (example, their golden parachutes)

If ALPA is too blame, them blame them for not being more effective in driving
managmeent toward this ideal. But as I said before Air Line Pilots don't run
Airlines. If they do mention ideas they can get shot down has being union bias.

Why? Becuase unlike SWA, where unions are partners, at the legacy carriers (and thier feeders) unions are adversaries.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian
ALPA National provides us with "financial experts" who inform our local leadership as to whether our companies can afford our contract demands and they were very good at it - as long as they don't have to look ahead more than one or two years.


Brian, how can you expect ALPA to forcast beyond two years when Airline
management can't. Heck, the airline analysist can't. Please be realistic.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian
First, power has to return to the rank and file. That requires a rejection of mandatory union membership, the elimination of mandatory dues payments, and the option for the rank and file to quit their unions. Such policy changes will make union leadership more responsive to front line members.


Brian, I'm glad you offer solutions, otherwise your article would be nothing
but a complaint.

Did you know that the most powerful group at ALPA is the general membership? The problem is no one attends the mandatory quarterly meeetings. I don't know what you expect the ALPA leadership to do if no one will come to meetings? How can the Rank and File control thier rightful power if they don't attend the meetings? Is it ALPA's responsibility to physically place members at the meetings? Most members are right.. ALPA isn't a democracy...because only the leadership is at the meetings.

As you know, members can quit the union but they will pay a contract fee. If ALPA didn't have money, then the complaints and effectiveness would be even worse. Money talks, BS walks. You can't have it both ways, either you have dues paying members or you have no union. You don't call for a total ALPA shutdown, so I take it you still want a union.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian
Second, Congress should pass legislation, which requires unions
to reveal their financials, at both the national and the local level, of the bargaining unit. How can you exercise control over your representatives, when you have no idea what they are doing with your money? Today, union spending is a big secret to the rank and file members; there are no provisions in the ALPA constitution to hold union leadership accountable for how they spend member dues.

Actually, you don't need Congress to pass this type of transparent financials.

First at the local level just ask your LEC/MEC SEC/Treas to look at the books.
If he/she says no, then you have a problem with your leadership and not ALPA.

Also, the Bush Admin has created a huge union reporting rquirement called LM-2. It has made union financial reporting a momumental burden costing thouands in union dues money. But no dues paying member seems to mind. What this has done is attracted attention to union salaries..and boy have unions members been pointing out these red herrings.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian
Third, the Railway Labor Act (RLA) and the policies of the
National Mediation Board (NMB) desperately need overhauling.


Now we are talking!! How do we overhaul federal code? It could take an act of Congress!! How do we, as Air Line Pilots, get Congress to do what we want? We use our political power! We've two sources of political power. ALPA National and our Politcal Action Committee or ALPA-PAC.

An effective way is thru Congressional hearings and one-on-one visits. Now we need a guy who is politically savvy enuogh to address a Congressional Hearing or office visit. Who could that be....??

Just one guy,... a point man... Who could do this for us.......???? Maybe we need an ALPA President? Oh wait we got one! (note: I am only pointing out the title of ALPA President)

As far as ALPA-PAC goes, we are never going to overhaul the RLA and NMB if we don't get more members involved. (Do you, the reader, contribute to ALPA-PAC?)

Brian, something you sort of understand. We live in a very free market and capitalistic society. Better, faster, stronger and cheaper comes at a price. The free market system is not an ALPA problem. You are really addressing a monolith of huge proportions and yet you don't realize it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian
It should be required that all activities related to negotiations,
be totally transparent. Today, unions, in the guise of "representing"
the rank and file, poll their members periodically during negotiations
and then keep the results of that polling secret from those whom they
deign to represent - it is quite simply an abuse of their leadership
provisions to do so, and is a common example of union corruption in action.

Brian, sounds like you've got a leadership issue. ALPA isn't broke, you just
need better leaders. But you also need to understand the negotiating process.

If ALPA published the results of the poll, then management will know what
to expect. Not too smart.....

The NE Patriots don't send their opponets thier playbooks.

If you don't trust your leaders than get one whom you can. Or trust yourself...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian
The RLA must be modified to require mandatory arbitration,
if there is no contract agreement after two years of negotiating. The contract issues would then be resolved within one year, by an
independent arbitration panel, made up of industry experts drawn from
labor, management, and financial institutions. Such mandatory
arbitration would eliminate the need for unions to go on strike,
so the revised law should outlaw strikes too. The airline industry is such an important part of the national infrastructure, that union activists should not be allowed to shut it down, or even to slow it down, as did the American Airline pilots in 1999.

Brian, not sure if you remember CESTA. But they would've loved you
over there. CESTA was a political power lobby group set up by airline
managmeent to install "baseball" style arbitration. Last best offer stuff.
That is great when you are ball player and the difference is between Derek Jeter buying a house in the Hamptons, NJ and Florida or just one house.

But when you are talking about a Mesaba pilot trying to feed his children I take offensive exception to your comments.

Continued.....

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian
ALPA must begin to truly represent and educate the rank and file member. To this end, leadership needs to embrace a role of information facilitators - allowing rank and file members access to all views and all data on a given issue. Union leadership must then partner with management to provide forums, much like presidential political debates, where rank and file members can confront management and union leadership directly, so that the rank and file can understand and appreciate all considerations in a given issue. Only then will the rank and file be able to develop an informed, unbiased assessment of the issues at hand, and subsequently regain control over their futures.


Brian,
I agree with the first line in the above quote.

Yet hardly any one self educates. ALPA has built the watering hole but they can't get the horses to drink. ALPA cannot make people read. ALPA cannot make pilots attend LEC meetings. ALPA cannot make pilots vote in LEC elections.


Partner with management to provide forums, like debates! With managment? You are losing creditbility.

At an LEC meeting you can have polite and professional debates about whatever you want. Why? Because ALPA is a democracy. You can speak your mind. However, management is not a democracy. I hope all Air Line Pilots realize that. Your airline management is not a democracy. Therefore, they will not engage debate, for fear of losing that debate and their control. Very simple and true. The ALPA model is not broke, its that the users manual is not read. ALPA can adapt however it needs to adapt.

The problem is the membership, like yourself, that refuses to remove the lens in which they understand. You insist on addressing problems that aren't really problems. They are inefficiences and a lack of understanding within yourself.
It is incredibly rare to find an ALPA member who accepts reponsibility. They all play the blame game.

There are alot of steps that must be taken before we can get ALPA effecient.
The first things are control what you can control. That means you, the member. Control your education and you particiapation. Afterwards, you can begin to influence change.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian
ALPA must understand, that the days when labor cost
increases can simply be passed on to the customers, are gone forever.
Today, the only way to generate the profitability required to sustain high compensation contracts over the long term, is for the union to partner with management to increase market share, via increasing efficiencies, reducing operating costs, and providing better customer service.

SWA.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian
Pilots can no longer act merely as bus drivers - they must get out of the cockpit and into the cabins and act like businessmen and women. To the passenger, the face of the company is the gate agent, the flight attendant and the cockpit crew. Those employees had better put their best
customer service face forward, if they want their company to retain customers and gain market share. Pilots need to be as focused on customer relations as they are on safety. Only then will profitability increase to the point where lucrative compensation can be sustained over the long term.

I see your retail experience talking here.

If pilots are to get out of the cockpit, they must do it on their own accord and not as a part of some management initiative. If pilots are focused on customer relations then they are not focused on safety, if mandated by managment. They only way this works is via a pilots own accord.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian
If front line personnel don't respond to this challenge, you can bet some other airline with a more enlightened perspective, will. And customer service expectations are so low right now, that the airline who does so, will attract a huge chunk of the customers in that marketplace.

Like SWA? Their labor relations are great. Is that because SWAPA is so great? No it is because SWA management is great. Air Line Pilots don't run airlines. I know we are so well trained in solving the problem, but we can't solve managments problems. Front line personnel can't respond to this challenge if thier corporate leadership are not leading this initiative. Personnel will only be banging their head on the wall.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian
In short, current ALPA policies are rooted in a pre-1978 world
and as such are outdated and ineffective. Their policymaking has been
corrupted with the political power that comes from vast sums of money,
combined with little or no accountability. Such policies are totally inappropriate for a free, capitalistic market system. It’s time for reform,
it’s time for a major paradigm shift. Only then will ALPA begin to
protect the long-term best interests of their membership.

Brian,
You motivation is clearly good, however the issue is so much more complex for you to place this much burdon on one organization. What about the Bush Admin? What about the DOT? The FAA? What about managment? What about our massive free market system that has no control room? No where do you provide any discussion on these groups, yet if you want to fix all of the ALPA-problems you have listed, then these players must be at the table.

Your vision is thru your perception of how you understand things to be. Does that mean your vision is true?

I agree ALPA's effectiveness right now is low. I want it to improve. But the only way the rank and file is going to become better is for them to get involved. They have to learn more about the organization they want to change. You can't fly a jet on your first flying lesson. The membership needs to learn how to be members of a politcal organization. Only then can they effect change.

Your article just doesn't work, because it doesn't address the real issues. And when you do come close, like changing the RLA and NMB, you don't realize that the programs are there, its just the users are not intergrated.

The membership just needs to get engaged......

 

[Doug Parker]

I heard he posts on Flightinfo as a Delta 737 pilot.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha !!!!!






.

 

[Ty Webb]

I can think of at least one other management wannabe FO to IP story, who also likes to write the occasional "You bad, bad naughty silly pilots" article.

Oh, I think I can think of one, too . . . .


That's 'bout all ah'm gonna say 'bout that . . . .

 

[General Lee]

This is why Shampoo Bottles have directions...... (taken from Dalpa board)

Brian Wilson is a tool. Southwest pilots have one aircraft type, and have shorter training cycles. Delta has many different types of planes, all requiring longer schools if you are new to the airplane. There are many people in school at one time, bringing down the average flight hours flown by the whole group. Brian knows he is a lifer, and wants a management job really bad. Dork.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Falconjet]

Brian Wilson is a tool. Southwest pilots have one aircraft type, and have shorter training cycles. Delta has many different types of planes, all requiring longer schools if you are new to the airplane. There are many people in school at one time, bringing down the average flight hours flown by the whole group. Brian knows he is a lifer, and wants a management job really bad. Dork.


Bye Bye--General Lee

While I am not agreeing with any of Brian's rantings I will say this. General, do you think that the facts above have anything to do with SW's success?

Do you think those things are an accident?

Do you think that Delta could maybe learn something from those facts?

I know that you are not a fan of Delta's past management, but you do tend to tout your airline's horn quite a bit. Maybe Delta and other airlines should do more to emulate the SW model instead of using the differences as an excuse to continue to bleed money.

Just food for thought.

FJ

 

[Falconjet]

And another thing. How in the world do you guys get such long posts without getting timed out? I can't type for more than a paragraph or two without getting timed out.

I have found that if I open up another browser window and log in again I can then post the response, but that is a pain in the arse.

How do you do it?

FJ

 

[whatitdoing?]

I bet his application is at Delta.....

 

[737 Pylt]

The Delta pilots have a list?

The plaintiffs have a list too. It's called discovery demands and apparently, the Delta pilots have yet to produce "the list" you speak of.

Speaking of lists, anyone have the names of the plantiffs on the rjdc suit?

737
How's that lawsuit working out for ya sparky?

 

[MLBWINGBORN]

Cut and paste dude..cut and paste.

 

[PHXFLYR]

that is a great summation of what drove Delta into BK. Mullin, Reid, Burns, et al, thought just that. Borrow enough money to outlast the competition, and also outlast the cycle. The believed to their core that things would get right back to normal after a couple of years.

I think the truth was the airline industry had already started a huge change prior to 9/11, and the trauma of 9/11 allowed these fools to blame forces other than market forces for Delta's decline. Remember, Delta had lost money for 1 or 2 quarters prior to 9/11.

They did not face up to real change until it was too late.

Very true. And it's exactly what I said on another thread to General Lee. you guys are very much like Pan Am was in it's heyday. Too stogy and cumbersome to react quickly enough to the rapid changes taking place in todays market. I really hope that you guys can find your way out of CH11 and that you new managers have what it takes to guide you guys to a bright and prosperous future. Good luck.


PHXFLYR

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

You guys sure get spun up in a hurry.

This Brian Wilson dude, so I hear here, is just another Check Airman Captain that thinks he knows it all about every subject. He probably wants you to carry his bags and laugh at all his lamo jokes too. Every airline has'em.

IMHO, you have already spent too much time considering his comments, intentions and existance.

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

Very true. And it's exactly what I said on another thread to General Lee. you guys are very much like Pan Am was in it's heyday. Too stogy and cumbersome to react quickly enough to the rapid changes taking place in todays market. I really hope that you guys can find your way out of CH11 and that you new managers have what it takes to guide you guys to a bright and prosperous future. Good luck.


PHXFLYR

Whatever FLYR......If being too "stogy and cumbersome" means not begging the government for ATSB loan/handout money like USair and America West, then paint Delta with that broad brush.........

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

that is a great summation of what drove Delta into BK. Mullin, Reid, Burns, et al, thought just that. Borrow enough money to outlast the competition, and also outlast the cycle. The believed to their core that things would get right back to normal after a couple of years.

I think the truth was the airline industry had already started a huge change prior to 9/11, and the trauma of 9/11 allowed these fools to blame forces other than market forces for Delta's decline. Remember, Delta had lost money for 1 or 2 quarters prior to 9/11.

They did not face up to real change until it was too late.

Excellent observation, IMHO!

SWA is also trying to outlast the competition by charging fares at cost with little profit....Radically different strategy. Has worked well post 9/11.

I also believe Delta management didn't have much leeway. You can't change an airline into another company in 24 short months. You HAVE to hope the cycle will save you if you are already committed to a course, unless you can unleash cost cutting in BK. Delta was too strong financially to go into BK in a timely manner. They HAD to hock everything to get to BK.

Then there is the executive desire to maximize their pay and retirement benefits for another 2 or 3 years as the business plan gets destroyed. They didn't have incentive (being machiavelan managment types) to restructure and cut THEIR pay so they didn't want to offer any sweeping changes to compensation and costs.

Oh well. Like I said before, when Delta management and the pilots signed the contract it was like two trains heading toward each other. It was only a matter of time until the trainwreck. Couldn't have stopped it.

 

[goahead]

Delta folks, Don't let this guy waste a minute of your time. He's one that never made it and is pissed off he's stuck here forever. He'll enjoy his cute little RJ for the rest of his life.

 

[General Lee]

Very true. And it's exactly what I said on another thread to General Lee. you guys are very much like Pan Am was in it's heyday. Too stogy and cumbersome to react quickly enough to the rapid changes taking place in todays market. I really hope that you guys can find your way out of CH11 and that you new managers have what it takes to guide you guys to a bright and prosperous future. Good luck.


PHXFLYR

We're like the old Pan Am, huh? Really? Then you guys are the new People's Express? Or, you are the new USAir? Wait, you are the new USAir. You probably need to work on your customer service, since the old USAir never had a good reputation, which is one of the reasons Doug wanted to buy us, to bring in a sense of class. Well, I think we are working on our "cumbersome--ness", and hopefully we will become more nimble. I think we will when we come out on our own or with NWA, and I think you guys will eventually get those complaints down and bring UP your image. Good luck to you guys.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[COOPERVANE]

Brian W. will Never apply to Delta. He is around 50, and is enjoying his perception of being a big fish in a little pond at ASA.

He will retire there thank God.

 

[doh]

Don't feel too special, Delta guys. He blames ASA pilots for all the woes here as well. He's also really good at writing articles. He wrote an article for our Flight Ops. publication a while back that was essentially a fictitious story about an ASA pilot's family dying in an ASA plane crash because the pilots forgot to update their Jepps and hit a tower or some such thing. I truly enjoy being lectured to like I'm in kindergarten. The man is more or less a joke here at ASA. He certainly is not representative of the ASA pilot group in any way.

I read that article on one of my ATL sits! I laughed all the way to MDT! Post some more of his musings, please! I love laughing at morons like that!