Wave, read this again. It's a fair observation. The whole controversy over feed vs jobs is not as cut and dry as you make it. RJ's do create mainline jobs by providing feed. Yes it's gone too far, but no one could have forecasted what was ahead when that cat got let out of the bag (9/11, bankruptcies and economy crashing).
As far as SWAPA goes, I have nothing against independent unions, but SWAPA has simply been a follower, not a leader. They were able to build on the foundation that was built by ALPA. Their success has been a result of dealing with a benevolent management team and SWA's business plan of filling the LCC niche when there was room to grow, not through being better than ALPA
Dan, I don't think anyone is saying that ALPA hasn't done anything for the industry; indeed they have. However, they are not the be-all, end-all that you and others make them out to be.
The reason some of us like having our own independent union should be obvious. First and foremost is that every dollar spent, and every effort expended, is for our own members first. Period. Every time. That's certainly not true with a national union. A national union with competing locals has to balance the needs and wants of different chapters, when they find that their interests compete against each other. That means that your money and union might not have your best interest in mind when decisions between two ALPA carriers are made. ALPA regional carriers vs. ALPA mainline in the codeshare situation comes first to mind. I'm sure others can give other examples.
Plus you have the added overhead and drag of another, huge bureaucratic layer, far removed from your concerns. More money.
You pretend again that you're being "non-partisan," but once again, you resort to slams on anything Southwest. I've never said that SWAPA was better than ALPA (other than for myself and other Southwest pilots), but you can't help slamming SWAPA ("a follower, not a leader." Our success was "built on ALPA.") In case you hadn't noticed, Dan, ALL airline labor unions feed off each other. That's how it works. We all pull each other up--a rising tide floats all boats, as it were. How many ALPA carriers used SWAPA's CBA as leverage in trying to regain their losses after 9/11 and bankruptcy contracts? Uh... that would be most if not all of them, Dan. In those cases, Dan, using
your analogy, ALPA was rebuilding its "crumbled" foundation on the newer, but more solid SWAPA foundation. Should they be thanking us now, like you
seem to think we should kowtow to ALPA?
You like ALPA? Good for you. However, it's not perfect, it's not the only or necessarily the best answer, and it's definitely not right for everyone. Larger airlines with their own independent union are generally more satisfied with that. Why do you have such a problem with that?
Bubba