Splinter
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2005
- Posts
- 78
- Total Time
- 5000+
Not for sensitive eyes...
Delta, Northwest, United, USAirways...what happened? Let's compare these legacy carriers with another one...American.
The airline industry is in a paradigm shift. RJ's growing, LCCs dominating domestic growth, 9-11, and skyrocketing fuel costs. Feeble management at these airlines clearly inept and impotent. Of all the airlines, most would consider the labor/management relationship at American to be hands down the worst. Funny how it is American that worked with its unions to coordinate furloughs, fleet retirements, displacements, and significant compensation reductions...WITHOUT strike or bankruptcy. Why? Because American pilots could give a rip at what happens to United or Delta.
Carriers need in-house unions that care only for its own survival which is directly linked to their airline. Delta pilots should NEVER care about pilots at Northwest. Lack of ALPA handcuffs at SWA and American allows them to focus on ONLY their careers, families, etc. If you fly for Delta and you are staring down the barrel of Bush blocking a strike and a court re-writing your contract, how would you feel? How do United pilots feel? USAirways HAD a retirement. Why SHOULD any of these pilots give a hoot about the plight of pilots at other carriers? Competition baby! Don't you think Southwest pilots want to bury jetBlue, AirTran, and Frontier? You bet...and the feeling is shared. They die, we grow, they lose, we win. No alliances.
So what of alliances? Allegiance? What has ALPA done for legacy carriers lately? And why is Woerthless still in office? He is the Frank Lorenzo of airline labor. It will be his picture on CEO's offices for his efforts in reducing ALPA to a toothless tiger. The man is a clown. Local unions can accrue war chests, fight grievances, and collectively bargain effectively WITHOUT the self-serving interests of ALPA. Delta, Northwest, United, and others need union representation that cares only for its fellow employees, not toeing the line on behalf of another carrier's pilots who open negotiations the following year.
If all unions were in house, we would all be better off as pilots. ALPA cannot protect your career by representing the competition too. How many major carriers NOT represented by ALPA have filed for Chapter 11? I trust my local reps with my job but I wish we would vote ALPA off the island and go at it on our own. ALPA only cares about ALPA...it forgets that its members are employees first, and union members second. ALPA doesn't send you a check to pay your mortage, your company does. Let's hope that ALPA goes away soon. Someone can start a new PAC to lobby for airline pilot issues...it wasn't funded with union dues to begin with.
The only management more incompetent than that of USAirways, Delta, and the other legacy carriers that filed Chapter 11 is that of ALPA. Unions are essential for pilots IMHO, but Woerthless has mutated ALPA into a cancer that management always wanted to remove, and now its members are dying from.
Delta, Northwest, United, USAirways...what happened? Let's compare these legacy carriers with another one...American.
The airline industry is in a paradigm shift. RJ's growing, LCCs dominating domestic growth, 9-11, and skyrocketing fuel costs. Feeble management at these airlines clearly inept and impotent. Of all the airlines, most would consider the labor/management relationship at American to be hands down the worst. Funny how it is American that worked with its unions to coordinate furloughs, fleet retirements, displacements, and significant compensation reductions...WITHOUT strike or bankruptcy. Why? Because American pilots could give a rip at what happens to United or Delta.
Carriers need in-house unions that care only for its own survival which is directly linked to their airline. Delta pilots should NEVER care about pilots at Northwest. Lack of ALPA handcuffs at SWA and American allows them to focus on ONLY their careers, families, etc. If you fly for Delta and you are staring down the barrel of Bush blocking a strike and a court re-writing your contract, how would you feel? How do United pilots feel? USAirways HAD a retirement. Why SHOULD any of these pilots give a hoot about the plight of pilots at other carriers? Competition baby! Don't you think Southwest pilots want to bury jetBlue, AirTran, and Frontier? You bet...and the feeling is shared. They die, we grow, they lose, we win. No alliances.
So what of alliances? Allegiance? What has ALPA done for legacy carriers lately? And why is Woerthless still in office? He is the Frank Lorenzo of airline labor. It will be his picture on CEO's offices for his efforts in reducing ALPA to a toothless tiger. The man is a clown. Local unions can accrue war chests, fight grievances, and collectively bargain effectively WITHOUT the self-serving interests of ALPA. Delta, Northwest, United, and others need union representation that cares only for its fellow employees, not toeing the line on behalf of another carrier's pilots who open negotiations the following year.
If all unions were in house, we would all be better off as pilots. ALPA cannot protect your career by representing the competition too. How many major carriers NOT represented by ALPA have filed for Chapter 11? I trust my local reps with my job but I wish we would vote ALPA off the island and go at it on our own. ALPA only cares about ALPA...it forgets that its members are employees first, and union members second. ALPA doesn't send you a check to pay your mortage, your company does. Let's hope that ALPA goes away soon. Someone can start a new PAC to lobby for airline pilot issues...it wasn't funded with union dues to begin with.
The only management more incompetent than that of USAirways, Delta, and the other legacy carriers that filed Chapter 11 is that of ALPA. Unions are essential for pilots IMHO, but Woerthless has mutated ALPA into a cancer that management always wanted to remove, and now its members are dying from.
