The serving of two masters!

[Wiskey Driver]

The problem with ALPA is they are unable to represent regionals effectively while at the same time representing major carriers. I have said for quite some time that the regionals should get together and form their own union and let ALPA do what they do best, represent the majors. Those of us at top level regional carriers need effective representation and ALPA just ain't it. Maybe it's time to put this to a vote at your airline, e-mail your MEC or send letters to them but something needs to be done before it's really too late. What do you think??

WD.

 

[Windycity]

Great idea Whiskey Driver. I would love to see Air Whiskey SkyWest, ACA, ASA, ComAir, and a few others all join together and form a "Regional Airline Pilots Association". As great idea as that is, I don't know if it will ever happen.

AS many of you know there is both contract negotiations and a union drive in progress at SkyWest. The Mesa TA hurts SkyWest pilots chances of securing a good, fair contract. As much as I would like to see an in-house union at Skywest, it wouldn't be half as powerful as a union made up of a coalition of regionals. As far as what would ALPA do for Skywest, who knows, but the MESA TA, supported by ALPA national, doesn't have me too excited about that prospect. Before anybody blasts me, I think ALPA does a superb job representing the big boys, but the small fries better band together and find a solution quickly.

Maybe someone alittle more knowledgeable than me can get the relevant parties together and kick this Regional Airline union thing around. I mean, can we actually be any worse off than we are now?

 

[temcgrew]

Yo! WD, where have you been? haven't heard anything from you in a long time!!

 

[infoman]

Windycity,

Regional Airline Pilots Association "RAPA" did exsit. It represented the Wings West pilot group at Eagle. The pilot groups had a vote to pick one of the three unions on the property (APA, ALPA, RAPA). ALPA won. They had the most money, and represented about 1/2 the group.

Just a bit of history.

I am saved my RAPA pin to sell on Ebay when I retire. Should be worth something.

Best Wishes to All.

 

[DarnNearaJet]

I think the blame for Mesa's piece of **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**e contract lays at the feet of Mesa pilots, who negotiated and ratified the contract, not with big evil ALPA national.

 

[DoinTime]

Just imagine how powerful a union made up of say 10,000 regional airline pilots would be. Think of the resources that could be obtained with amount of dues money that would be flowing in. If the average salary was somewhere around $45k/year that would mean that around $8.8 million would be collected in total dues money in a given year.

WTF ARE YOU GOING TO GET WITH $8.8 MILLION A YEAR?????

What kind of representation in Washington are you going to be able to buy? How many lawyers are you going to be able to have on staff? How about AME's? Will you be able to have full-time officer and clerical positions? What kind of supplemental insurance are you going to be able to negotiate for your members? How about your MEC's? Will they be able to afford full-time MEC reps? Where is your contingency fund going to come from to negotiate better contracts? How much money in assessments are 10,000 members going to be able to provide if one the MEC's goes on strike? A Union made up of regionals would never be able to generate the amount of dues money necessary to stand a chance against corporate America. Mainline MEC's provide the dues money for the multitude of benefits offered by ALPA. Worst yet is how do you think ALPA would behave if none of us were ALPA members? If you think they practice predatory bargaining against regionals now just wait until it is legal for them to do this.

I agree that ALPA has done some pretty shady things in the past and continues them to this day but leaving the most powerful pilot Union in the industry is the wrong thing to do.