from usapa site:
"The History of ALPA in Nine Paragraphs"
Well, another Labor Day is upon us and what is the current state of airline pilots in America? Yet another year has passed, and there are still no pensions, no nice paycheck increases, no schedules that even resemble what they were a mere dozen years ago (I guess so much for "Schedule with Safety" crap). In fact, if one cares to take an even closer look, one can discover that a NYC taxi cab driver can make more money today than a widebody airline Captain, which pretty much says it all. And all of this takes place while a new ALPA leader claims we are going to "take it back," whatever the true definition of "it" is.
I have been officially "retired" for over two years now, and can truthfully say I am happy to be there. This, after working many low-paying, long hour jobs to get my position with Eastern back in 1970, a lifetime ago. Back then, I really thought I had arrived. Instead of "arriving" today we all should ask ourselves, "Where did it go?" and more importantly, "How did it get away?" If one looks back on the sordid history of ALPA, it is pretty clear what happened, and the downhill slide began with JJ O'Donnell, a former Eastern pilot, at the ALPA helm. O'Donnell's first really big test as ALPA President came with the institution of airline deregulation that was first proposed by Gerald Ford, with the help of the esteemed Senator from Massachusetts Ted Kennedy and then-CAB Chairman Mr. Alfred Kahn, and instituted by the one-term loser, Jimmy Carter. Back then I was serving my first term as an elected MEC Rep from Eastern's NY base, under the expert tutelage of Skip Copeland. Skip and I spent many long hours going over and over where deregulation would ultimately wind up, and who would be the most impacted by it, finally coming to the conclusion that due to the internal ALPA structure all ALPA-represented airline pilots would eventually be negatively impacted, but not at the same time, for a number of reasons. But the real bugaboo was ALPA's structure, which meant that the pilots from different airlines would salivate over the demise of their "brothers," because their "brothers'" pain and suffering would mean many more promotions for the survivors--that is until it became "their turn in the barrel," so to speak. But ALPA did have a weapon that could have been branded, and all it would take was some true leadership and lots of communications. It didn't take any special genius to see who was targeted by the anti-labor airline deregulation, but the first needed step was to remove the blinders, cut the bull******************** and understand what the term "deregulation" really meant from a workers perspective. This meant that the vast majority of airline pilots had to first view themselves as--gasp-- workers. But, even though Copeland and I proposed a national Stoppage Of Service at the '78 ALPA BOD meeting, O'Donnell and vast majority of the BOD chose to ignore our call to arms through a SOS, and instead focus on "business as usual." Hell, the BOD even turned down our suggestions for a national pilot contract, which in Skip's uncanny words of wisdom would have "locked in pilot wages like a gallon of fuel," meaning everyone would be paid the same, so there could be no playing off one group against the other. Next, our proposal for a prospective national seniority list was also turned down, as was another proposed top echelon ALPA committee to look into the long term effects of deregulation on airline pilots. Great ALPA representation--no?
So, while deregulation quickly became the "law of the land" because of no ALPA opposition, not one person from ALPA ever even lifted a finger to truly enforce the flimsy requirement that those put out of work because of deregulation had to be the first hired at other carriers--just ask the Braniff guys about that. Next came the air traffic controllers strike, followed by Reagan's scabs and with it another blown chance for O'Donnell to take the side of labor. What happened this time? He again sold out to the Washington politicians, took to the airwaves and lied when told the American traveling public that the air traffic control system was "safe," in spite of the fact that he knew it wasn't. He knew because many of his own pilots were telling him it wasn't. I am proud to say that Council 51--Skip and my Council--was the only one in ALPA to publicly call on Reagan to rehire the controllers. Sure, there were problems with some individual controllers, but these paled in comparison to what Reagan's actions against them meant to every American worker, including airline pilots. But O'Donnell sat there with his thumb up his ass doing nothing, but no doubt praying every night there would be no midairs or other type of controller-induced calamity.
Then came the crew complement issue, when O'Donnell let the political hacks decide how many pilots we--those of us who did it every day--needed to safely fly the new generation of airlines coming off the assembly line. I clearly remember addressing the BOD from the podium and telling them if they agreed to this inane idea that we would soon be flying the 747 with 2 pilots, and I was practically heckled off the podium with cries of, "We will never fly the 747 with 2 pilots!" The rest is history.
When the ALPA BOD finally threw out O'Donnell, they put Hank Duffy in his place, yet another 3-piece empty foreign-made suit who thought that he and the ALPA pilots could fight the likes of Lorenzo with the capitalists tool, money, instead of every ALPA-represented pilot in America getting down and dirty and hitting the bricks over what Lorenzo did to the CAL pilots. Ah, but that brings us back once again to that dirty little ALPA internal structure that dictates when a "brother" is hurting, another "brother" benefits from his pain.
Babbitt then came next. Yes, the same Babbitt who compared ALPA National to a "mother ship" that had all these little boats in the form of the pilots from the various ALPA-represented airlines tethered to it. This Einstein went on to explain that when one of the little boats began to founder, it had to be cut off, so it wouldn't sink the "mother ship," and that was exactly what ALPA National did to the Eastern pilots--cut them off. Now that might sound innocent enough, but it's not when you think of it in terms of the human toll; the suicides, divorces, kids removed college, homes sold, lives destroyed by the anxiety and suffering. These are all of the items a true union is there to prevent, not enable, but then again, Mr. Babbitt now is out there peddling his services to the highest bidder, just like, oh well, you know.
Speaking of enabling, I could go on and on about the recent pension, pay and work rule giveaways that Babbitt's successor, Mr. Woerthless enabled, but there is no need to do that because their actions are painfully burned into our recent memories, and hopefully, Woerthless and his cronies will be held accountable in both a Court of Law and in the Court of public opinion.
You might wonder what is next on the anti-labor, anti-pilot agenda? Well, if you take a look in that Copeland-type of crystal ball, you can clearly see that having foreigners fly our domestic routes is bearing down on us at about Mach .84. Think of things like "Virgin America," etc. And what will ALPA do about this? I think we all know that answer, because reality dictates that with the same internal structure still in place and the sad, sad story of what the ALPA "leadership" has done to a once-proud profession, means it will be impossible to "Take it back." Instead, a better slogan might be, "More of the same to come."
All I ask is that you ponder the foregoing during this long Labor Day weekend when we celebrate the true labor leaders of yesteryear and not the phonies who have now taken their place on the dais. Also think of where the ALPA policy of always taking the perceived easy way out has gotten us. And, while you're at it, say a silent prayer for those who paid so dearly for this unwritten ALPA policy.
Fraternally,
