George Jetson said:
While your messages are certainly well written and prophetic, I must say that I sense an enormous amount of paranoia in what you write, especially with respect to your opinions about Herndon.
Perhaps what you call my paranoia is unjustified; we shall see. I hope you will still be able to feel that way when the time comes to settle your own negotiations.
Yes sir, I
do know what ALPA is doing and with all due respect, it is NOT what you seem to think. No personal offense, but the idea that ALPA National deals with "national issues" and supplies each individual MEC with "resources and tools", is nothing more than a regurgitation of ALPA's own propaganda. They
sold your group (assuming you are with COEX) that BS when they wanted your vote to get CAL back into the union and you took the bait. Mark my words, it won't be too long before you discover what ALPA National really does with respect to regional carriers. We all get our "trun in the barrel" sooner or later.
Who do you think
recommended the infamous 16-year disaster of a contract that burdens the Eagle pilots and rigged the ratification method to ensure its acceptance? Answer: ALPA.
What is ALPA doing today to help the Eagle pilots repel the attack on their jobs perpetrated by AMR and the APA? Perhaps you've seen a lot of protests from the Eagle MEC ... what public position have you seen from ALPA in defense of the Eagle pilots?
Who do you think
recommended over and over, including telegrams to every Comair pilot, bypassing the Comair MEC, that we should accept a substandard contract after 3 years of negotiations and in the middle of a strike? Answer: ALPA.
Who do you think invented "Jets for Jobs", a program that abrogates the contracts and seniority of regional pilots in order to get work for furloughed mainline pilots, and then coerced PSA, ALG, PDT and others, into accepting it? Answer: ALPA
Who do you think established, promoted and maintained a
policy that resulted in the creation of Freedom and then complained about it and then
recommended that Mesa pilots accept an agreement that is nothing less than a tragedy to get rid of it and, of course, accept J4J in the process? Answer: ALPA.
Whose "policy" and J4J protocols resulted in the creation of the Republic alter ego on the Chautauqua property, to undermine their negotiations and force them to accept the abrogation of their seniority in favor of USAirways pilots? Answer: ALPA
Who do you think
recommended that Air Wisconsin pilots lower the bar by giving up their hard won contract, among the best at a regional, to give unnecessary concessions and undercut other ALPA carriers, especially in aircraft types that "they" don't want regional pilots to fly? Answer: ALPA
Who do you think is currently
recommending that ACA pilots give up their contract and take unnecessary concessions to "match Mesa" in the race to the bottom? Answer: ALPA
Why is SKYW now faced with a concessionary TA, and who do they believe that they have to follow into a race to the bottom? Answer: ALPA
Who is providing your group (COEX/XJT) with "resources and tools" to get a better contract, while at the same time
recommending concessions at other carriers that undermine your negotiations and will make you lucky if you can simply keep what you already have? Answer: ALPA
Who is
recommending concessions that undermine the current negotiations of the ASA pilots? Answer: ALPA
Who is
recommending concessions at other carriers that almost certainly will result in Comair pilots, who struck for 89 days to improve their contract, being asked to give up the gains that they made only 2 years ago? Answer: ALPA. What do you think ALPA will
recommend when Delta eventually asks us to make concessions?
Am I truly paranoid or is it maybe that you are naive? Can you name even one instance where ALPA has recommended that any regional
not participate in this race to lower their compensation? Has ALPA requested any regional carrier that it represents to stand its ground and not join the spiral to the bottom? Has ALPA requested or advised other regionals to resist the management fear strategy?
Why hasn't ALPA done that? Are the regional carriers in dire financial straits and losing money? Which one of the regional jet carriers is operating in the red and therfore needs to enter concessionary bargaining? What is the reason why ALPA does NOT encourage us all to hold the line? Tell me please.
ALPA National is not forcing concessions down ACA's throats. Give me a break. ACA is dealing with their predicament on their own. ALPA National didn't suggest concessions. If ACA votes no and they don't lower their costs, then they will watch their UAL flying go to Mesa, etc. Ask the Bain Group about it. It's a horrible situation...and I am glad I don't have to vote on their TA.
OK, I'll give you a break. You are right; ALPA is not forcing concessions down ACA's throat, they reserved that for PSA, ALG and PDT. Now what is ALPA doing to prevent concessions at ACA?ALPA
is using its "resources" to recommend that ACA pilots accept the TA. ACA has no real "predicament" of its own. United has a predicament, and ACA has no reason to join in it. Neither do AWAC or SKYW.
I agree that ALPA did not suggest concessions; management did that. ALPA's role should be to resist concessions, expecially those that are not economically justified. Is ALPA doing that anywhere? The answer is NO. Is ALPA resisting concessions at ANY regional carrier that has been "asked" by management? Again the answer is NO. Why not?
Will ACA really loose its flying to Mesa if they don't make concessions? Who cares what the "Bain Group" says? Are you going to give conessions if the Bain Group tells you that you will lose all your flying to SKYW or Commutair or Gulfstream if you don't? How come you can't figure out who the Bain Group really is and why don't you understand that they are PAID to generate the fear strategy that everyone is rushing to accept?
Yes, there is a horrible situation at United, but there is no horrible situation at any of the so-called United Express carriers. The fact is that if every pilot at every UAX affiliate voted to FLY FOR FREE, it would not change United's horrible situation.
If you were to add up the entire pilot payroll at every United Express carrier, before any of these concessions, would it equal in dollars the concessions made by the UAL pilots alone? Why don't you do that and see for yourself?
Fortunately my airline is negotiating for increases (contrary to what you said above)...not being led down a path like lemmings, as you say. There is no harming of seniority as you say either...and our situation has nothing to do with ALPA. Both the FTA as well as the flying opportunities we've secured over at Commutair and Skywest for our furloughed pilots.
Yes, you're negotiating for increases. Let's see how many increases you get after every regional carrier represented by ALPA has taken concessions. Let me know please which of the "resources and tools" ALPA gives you to get the increases you want if the face of the resources and tools it is giving to the concessionary syndrome and its tacit approval of the Bain Group.
The harming of regional pilot seniority comes as a result of the ALPA's Jets for Jobs protocols. You have not harmed seniority at Commutair or Skywest, merely because they did not accept what you wanted. Many of your members were writing, in these forums, how they expected to take Captain slots at SKYW due to its code share agreement with CAL in IAH. Im glad you didn't get that, for it is wrong.
You should not get and you are not entitled to any position at either airline, unless it is a vacancy that is unfilled by pilots on the seniority list of that airline who have first had the chance to bid for the vacancy.
When the vacancies are unfilled or new pilots have to be hired, then I am overjoyed that you achieved preferential hiring for your furloughed pilots at both of those airlines. Kudos to you for doing that, but shame (on at least some of you) for expecting or wanting "super seniority".
As for your FTA I'll reserve comment. It's a different subject and I'm certain you wouldn't want to know what I think of that.
If you think that's a long drawn out esoteric response, so be it. The uninitiated do need to be initiated and somebody has to try. I'm sorry if you find what I wirite difficult to understand and hope that others don't. It is my true intent to be
exoteric rather that
esoteric for I have grown weary of the "inner circle" at National. If you happen to be in that inner circle you should know that I have no regrets in exposing it for what it is. Regretably, I doubt I'll have much impact.
I won't lambaste you for supporting your MEC but I
will remind you that it really isn't your MEC, it's CAL's MEC. Again, that's a different topic.
Like you, I too support the ACA pilots (not the Bain Group) which is precisely why I don't think they should make concessions. The same applies to the Skywest pilots. In my opinion, it is unnecessary and it will neither make or break their affiliation with United one way or the other..
The concessions proposed in the TAs at those two carriers will do two things only: 1) Ensure that ACA and SKYW pilots are paid less, and 2) Help to undermine the contracts and negotiations at other regional airlines. In my opinion that is foolish and I can only hope that both TA's will be rejected solidly. Unfortunately, I'm not optimistic that will happen.
