Socony Air:
Don't get support for the RJDC confused with "union basher." I am a supporter of the RJDC and a union supporter. ALPA is our best hope for restoring this profession and ALPA is strongest when it represents all of its membership equally. The winds of ALPA political talk have been blowing towards a more inclusive union since the BOD meeting. But "Brand Scope" was also an ALPA talking point for a while that could not find traction with the select few major MEC members who functionally command the entire union.
At its core, the RJDC is a grass roots labor union effort. Over the years ALPA has become exclusionary and as a result lost its power. The RJDC wants an inclusive union - where all members have access to ALPA's tool box and where all members have the rights to negotiate their wages and working conditions with their employers. This would and will increase ALPA's power.
At ASA we are in the tough position of trying to hold the line while having had our scope blockade torpedo'd by ALPA National at the direction of the Delta MEC. ALPA and our local representatives are on the right side of this battle, but do not have much to fight with. Each airplane that SkyWest takes delivery of diminishes our power and we are apparently powerless to stop the transfer because ALPA failed to negotiate and at times actively blocked our attempts at securing scope.
The SkyWest pilots and the ASA pilots would benefit by bringing ALPA on to the SkyWest property. We can hold the line on this profession together. But separate we will both suffer the career instability and uncertainty caused by management whipsaw.
So I'm an ALPA supporter and have even enquired about going to SkyWest crew bases to promote ALPA. At the same time, I realize that ALPA must be reformed of it will continue its slide into irrelevance. Particularly at ASA, we are on the front lines of the battle and the unfortunate truth is that troops on the front line often get killed.
~~~^~~~
P.S. (general comments, not just to Socony) For this reason I think the ASA pilot reps should move forward on management's proposal with improvements in section 1 (scope). If SkyWest will not accept an improved section 1, then we should hold the line until ASA is gone, since that is a very possible outcome without section 1 anyway.
I would have liked to respectfully ask Jerry Atkin his thoughts on such a settlement. Not that I like Jerry Atkin, but I recognize that he has more power than any other individual in the Regional Airline business and, he isn't some Harvard Grad, or lucky middle level manager brown noser. He brought his airline empire up from nearly nothing and has the ego to go with his accomplishments. We don't get anywhere insulting and disrespecting people like Atkin. At best he thinks the insults are stupid and at worst he takes a personal interest in seeing you (or the group you represent) get destroyed. In the business world it is always the best policy to be as nice as you can and as firm as you have to be.
