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The Profession: What to do, Opportunity, and nowhere else to go but up(?).

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Rez O. Lewshun

Save the Profession
Joined
Jan 19, 2004
Posts
13,422
International travel is down signaling the overseas job probability as not so possible. Who wants to move overseas in this dwindling job market?

The Profession haters on this board (we all know who you are) are running out of utopic places to tell pilots where to run to and from our Profession.

All the while, back here in the good ol' USA, opportunity is presenting itself. Only starry eyed and suicidal (Jonestown-ish?) McCain supporters can justify how he would be good fro the profession. Fact is not only is Obama friendly towards labor, he enthusiastically supports it. With so many appointments to be made that will effect the Profession, DOL, DOJ, FAA, NMB, TSA, etc., it is quite a pleasant tailwind.

In addition, never before in airline history have so many CBA's been amenable at the same time. The ability with a Pro Labor Administration, to simultaneously strike or threaten to strike is powerful leverage.

The Perfect Storm hit us in Sept 2001 and kept on battering us till 2007. Management leveraged that storm against us, took advantage of us and decimated the profession.

Is the our Perfect Storm brewing?


We can't point to the global market place anymore and say 'look at those great jobs'. Seems like we are stuck in the good ol USA with our own profession.


What to do?


So do you shrug your shoulders and say whatever? Or do you become a part of this opportunity to restore and promote Our Profession?

Do you leave it up to the same ol' usual union volunteers, the good ones and the bad ones? Or do you man up yourself and work, just a little bit, using the leverage of our Perfect Storm?

As Americans, do we stay engaged in democracy or do we return to apathy and hope the White House figures out what we want and need?

As professionals, who controls our Profession?

The choice is ours.
 
A place to start is by doing the questionairs being published by MEC's and Negotiating committees.
United has one out now, and there is no better way to tell the NC what is important to you...and to then volunteer a little time and effort.

Alpa also needs to change itself, however. The threats of outsourcing and disjointed seniority are as real as a hostile NMB, the RLA process, and barriers to organizing.
 
ALPA has been its own worse enemy in the past 10 years. They and we like to blame management as the problem but they are just doing their job, ALPA is not. We won't see a change in direction until ALPA decides to change their priortity of who they represent most, the top 5% our the guys at the bottom. ALPA has given up over 10,000 mainline jobs by giving up scope, I fear that regioanls will continue to fly larger aircraft while mainline shrinks.
 
And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the going gets tough . . . the tough get going. Who's with me? Let's Go! Come on! AAAAEEEEEGGGHHHH!!
 
Blaming ALPA?

ALPA has given up over 10,000 mainline jobs by giving up scope.
Are you talking about ALPA Herndon giving up scoope, or the ALPA members selling out, when the time came to vote for the those "giving up scope contracts"?
 
Are you talking about ALPA Herndon giving up scoope, or the ALPA members selling out, when the time came to vote for the those "giving up scope contracts"?

I am talking about every pilot that voted to give up scope on a TA, I am talking about ALPA in Herndon that agreed to the scope clause, and I am talking about every ALPA pilot that says "I would give up 90 seat scope for SWA pay." The leadership has a done a poor job of of keeping every ALPA pilot's best interest at heart IMHO. There is plenty of blame to go around and I am not excluded from that blame.
 

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