AWC,
I would like to extend best wishes to you and your family in the coming year. I hope that you will find meaningful employment to tide you over, that it will be as a pilot so that you may remain current and most of all, that your return to the ranks of Delta pilots will be speedy and come before you suffer any greater loss than you already have.
I have read both your messages carefully and repeatedly, as well as the replies you received to date. Your appeal for peace and an end to the infighting is appreciated and I think laudable. Nevertheless, much of what you say is less than accurate and seems to miss the point. Within your messages there are ideas and allegations that make it clear to this reader that you have several misconceptions of the issues as well as the status quo. It appears that you have failed to grasp the reasons for the dispute between pilot groups as well as their impact on your present situation.
You said: "It is a sad state that we have gotten into, major airline pilot hating small jet pilot, small jet pilot hating major airline pilot." Obviously I can't and don't speak for everyone but this regional airline pilot doesn't hate major airline pilots and is not acquainted with any regional pilot that does. I don't hate any airline pilots and neither do I recognize any difference between them by virtue of their place of employment. Maybe if you and those major airline pilots that you say hate small jet pilots would give up your separate and unequal thought process we could all be just airline pilots, without the political handles created by your group and the international union. To my knowledge, the "major airline pilots only" signs were not erected by the "small jet pilots". Take down your signs and you might find the truth, i.e., we just see you as airline pilots; not major, not minor, but equal. Some of us object to what the International Union and some mainline MEC's are doing but we do not hate you as individuals or as a group.
While you don't come out and say it directly, your message implies that your furlough and that of other Delta pilots is somehow related to Delta Connection Pilots. While that may be what you have been lead to believe or have come to believe it is NOT true. The existence of "Delta Connection" is not the cause of your own furlough. Neither is it the cause of any of the other furloughs at Delta. "Delta Connection" did not cause you to lose your job and DCI cannot reinstate your job with Delta. Reality is that if all of DCI went away tomorrow, hundreds more of you would be furloughed, not fewer.
The "dispute" to which you refer is NOT a dispute with "DCI pilots". There are five (5) DCI companies: ASA, CMR, SKYW, ACA and Chautauqua (CHQ). Three (3) of them (ACA, SKYW and CHQ) are subcontractors that are not involved in any dispute and never have been. You allege that you "hear Delta Connection wishing death to the Delta Pilots". With all due respect, that is an allegation that appeals well to our emotions but has no basis in fact. I'm with Comair (allegedly the most "radical") and I've never heard this death wish of which you speak. I don't know where you get your information but I would suggest you expand the sources. Statements like that indicate a lack of accurate information on your part.
You tell us a heart-rending story about a former "friend" of yours. You tell us "I can tell he looks at me as the enemy. He talks to me and tells me I am trying to take his career away!" You go on to say that you think "It's unfortunate, it's sad! And it is out of control and very, very immature!" Yet, your own messages acknowledge that this "friend" (of yours) is not employed by any Delta Connection carrier. I get the idea that you are trying to convey but your method is a very broad brush that extends beyond DCI and really has nothing to do with your personal plight. Simply, it does not apply.
There is a dispute between Comair pilots and some ASA pilots and the Delta pilot group. This dispute is not personal, is not directed at individual Delta pilots, has not caused any furloughs and does not include any "death wish" towards Delta pilots. That idea is, bluntly, an absurdity.
When referencing the RJDC, which I acknowledge I support, you should note several things. 1) Those that support and participate in the RJDC have a dispute with the ALPA, not with individual Delta pilots; 2) That dispute stems from actions allegedly taken by the ALPA in support of the DMEC and, from actions that the ALPA has allegedly failed to take with respect to its legally mandated representation of the interests of Comair and ASA pilots; 3) This is a legal dispute being pursued in a court of law; 4) It's eventual outcome is yet to be determined; 5) It has not caused any Delta pilot to be furloughed and, 6) It has not prevented any Delta pilot from being employed anywhere. Additionally, the RJDC has not filed any lawsuits against anyone. Individual pilots seeking guarantees of their representational rights as union members filed the current litigation. In my opinion, which I am sure you do not share, they are more than justified. That however, is a separate issue.
It is indeed sad that such a dispute exists and, like you, I wish that it did not. However, it has nothing to do with what has happened to you personally or professionally. The fact that you don't like it is merely and indication that you disagree with those pilots that dislike the actions of ALPA and your MEC. That's fine but it has nothing to do with your furlough.
Whatever you think about the RJDC or its supporters is your opinion and your right to both think and express. However, in doing so you should attempt to stick to the facts. I agree that the "seniority and merger issues are pointless"; they are not the issue. The issue is the ALPA's duty of fair representation.
You accuse "us" of being insensitive to your plight and of failing to care that 1025 (your number) Delta pilots are furloughed. Speaking for myself, little could be further from the truth. I do regret the furlough of ANY pilot not just Delta pilots and I do hope you will be reinstated soon or, if that doesn't happen, that you will find suitable employment elsewhere. I don't want any of the unpleasant things you mention to happen to you or any other pilot and take no pleasure in them. I also don't know any pilots at my airline that do. However, once again, that has nothing to do with the dispute with the ALPA.
"We" (whomever you think that is) have not taken your jobs or your flying and do not want to take your seniority. We have made no effort to do either. I'm sorry for your situation but I can't accept the responsibility for causing it. Neither can any other "Delta Connection pilot" or any regional pilot.
Neither your job, nor the job of any other major airline pilot, or your seniority has been taken by any regional pilot. The cause of your job loss and that of thousands more like you is the severe economic downturn exacerbated by the tragedy of 9/11. It has not been caused by regional pilots, Delta Connection pilots, Comair pilots, ASA pilots, regional jets or, least of all, the RJDC. If you have that idea (it seems you do) you need to take a second look at reality. Sir, your views on the subject are jaundiced and that's "clear as a bell." I understand your frustrations with the furlough, but I disagree completely with your ideas of its cause.
In the case of Comair and ASA, yes we are receiving new airplanes and, yes we are hiring pilots. Nothing that any "Delta Connection pilot" has done prevents you from seeking or obtaining one of those jobs. If you want it, then go out and get it. There is nothing to stop you from doing that. All you have to do is meet the requirements of the Company where you would like to work. The Company sets those requirements, not the pilots.
Again with respect, it just isn't true that (you) "have no prospects for future airline employment with the exception of the Kind Hearted ASA Pilots opening their doors." First of all the ASA pilots (kind hearted or otherwise) haven't opened their doors, the management of ASA has decided to hire furloughed Delta pilots. Candidly, the pilots of ASA had little if anything to do with that. That was a management decision, not the decision of ASA pilots. There is nothing to indicate that Delta pilots are applying in droves and being rejected, even at ASA. In addition to ASA, many other regionals are hiring pilots. Have you applied to those? Have you been rejected? Did the pilots at any of the airlines where you have applied cause you to NOT get the job? I don't think so.
So what then is your point? What is it that you would like "Delta Connection pilots" to do for you? I'm sorry that you are furloughed but perhaps you should devote as much time to seeking employment as you do to crying Wolf.
Since you focus on the RJDC, what would you like the RJDC to do that would help you to find a job? What is the RJDC doing that prevents you from becoming re-employed?
As a fellow airline pilot, I wish you all the best and hope sincerely that you will find a new job very soon and before you lose any more than you already have. However, I will not accept being "blamed" by you or anyone else for your dilemma. If you are the "victim" of anything (and I don't think you are) it may well be the actions of your union and your own MEC.
If you would like the "dispute" between the ALPA and Comair and ASA pilots to end (as would I) then direct your complaints to the ALPA and to the Delta MEC. They are the cause of the dispute. Maybe that will help to end the dispute, but it won't get you another job and it will not cause your recall. The two are unrelated and have nothing to do with each other.
Here's hoping the New Year will be better for you and also for the rest of us.
