Rez O. Lewshun said:
Yet you ran for election to be one the $250 dinner plate recipients....
Yup, thought I might as well try to accomplish some real change in our organization or at least get something for my dues money.
Maybe they agreed... but the reality of winning it wasn't valid.... as you know grievance committee members don't determine if a grievence is valid.
Completely and totally INCORRECT, and you know it.
The grievance committee (Contract Compliance Committee) gets first dibs to determine whether a grievance is valid. If they don't think it is, they pass it back to you and say, "Sorry, and if you want to pursue it you are free to do so but we're not going to".
Don't believe me? I have the emails back from a previous CCC chairman saying EXACTLY that.
If it is a technicality or radical case, sure it might be right...but....
And that's where the standard ALPA bullsh*t starts. I pay my 1.9%, I DEMAND that if I have a grievance that the contract supports, the entire weight of the MEC be put behind it. Regardless of whether it affects the entire pilot group or not. That's why I pay dues. I have the right to be represented by paying that cash. Don't like it? Prepare to be sued for failure to represent which is EXACTLY what I will do if and when PCL settles their contract and my outstanding grievances aren't properly addressed, and I have exercised my right, in writing, to be present when they are.
If it is a grievance that would effect the entire pilot group and set precedence, then that is another case...
No, it's not a different case. I am ENTITLED to representation, REGARDLESS of what it costs. My dues money entitles me to such.
And we all do this in our personal lives with our own money, so let's not call out ALPA......
Yes, but those are MY choices to make. I don't appreciate spending money then being told that I'm not entitled to the protections that were SUPPOSED to go with that dues money. That's someone ELSE making a choice FOR ME.
So what does that mean.... everyone else is screwed up....??
Not at all. With one or two exceptions, most of the MEC members agreed with my grievances - they just never get to arbitration.
What it DOES mean is that the MEC has to re-align their priorities... for ALL their members. They never get to the individual grievances because they are too busy pursuing disciplinary grievances.
Now, BEFORE YOU FLY OFF THE HANDLE, let me say this:
I DO NOT have a problem with the union getting someone's job back FIRST, no issues whatsoever - that should be their FIRST priority of arbitrations. But if it's a 3 day suspension they're fighting versus an open grievance of mine for HALF A MONTH OF PAY, I expect them to do the arbitrations IN THE ORDER THE GRIEVANCES WERE RECEIVED.
Not according to the RJDC....
I don't support the RJDC. I believe they have the a valid gripe, but I believe more in all the regionals belonging to a different union than ALPA to solve the problem of represenation, but that's a different subject; let's stay on track.
Yet you wanted to go to FedEx.. where those...ALPA negotiated wages are coming...
Yup. And they've been in negotiations for HOW long now? And they've achieved WHAT? And the company is continuing to disregard the contract HOW? WHAT was that about disputed pairings?
FedEx and CAL went back to ALPA...guess those guys are stupid...
Still haven't figured that one out, neither organization has gotten very much more than they already had since they went back to ALPA. Doesn't sound like the move mattered much one way or the other.
Your in house union may ALPA sooner than you think..then what?
Not bloody likely. VERY few of the pilots support ALPA here. As a matter of fact, there was a HUGE ruccus (sp?) when the pilots found out our MEC was using ALPA for INFORMATION RESOURCES ONLY. Imagine what would happen if someone made the mistake of trying to say we should JOIN ALPA??!! Do you have ANY idea how many pilots here were furloughed out of an ALPA carrier? I'm not going into the whole TWA fiasco, but that's the general sentiment that I've picked up on so far...
Nope.. your fellow pilots via democracy said no....
So....
Lose election + poor grievance record = ALPA as a UNION is COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE.
Ummm,,, which election ballot was I on again? Remind me again, please. For the RECORD, I was inelligible for two of them because of domicile due to an ERROR on the MEC's part (although I was base-switching a lot, not a big surprise he lost track of me), one election I was a WRITE-IN candidate for (no one wins on a write-in although I did get a pretty good showing), and the election I DID start campaigning for I WITHDREW FROM before balloting because I had a child coming and I have my priorities straight.
So which election did I lose? Didn't think so.
Don't make this about what it isn't. I'm not bitter about any of the elections, I've moved on to a better place that PCL will NEVER come close to. I AM pretty pissed off about the nearly $10,000 in outstanding grievances that were never heard and ALPA's track record in negotiations the last 7-10 years points out their failings. You simply can't argue that, at least not convincingly.
I'm glad you think that ALPA is the end-all be-all of unions. Just realize by the showing here that your belief IS IN THE MINORITY and if pilots had a viable alternative, they'd probably take it.
Does that mean the ALPA Safety and Engineering is completely and totally ineffective?
No, I didn't say that either. I said as a negotiating entity, ALPA is completely and totally ineffective. Do I really need to list all the other areas that ALPA has a good track record in? There are quite a few unrelated ones I can mention, but that's not the point, as you WELL know...
TC
