But now, the industry is so fractured, nobody, especially ALPA, can put up any real resistance to the tidal wave of cheap airline labor approaching our shores. We are the next shipping industry and ALPA is fiddling while Rome burns.
British Airways Pilots Request Mutual Assistance
North American and EU Pilots Vow to Work Together on Emerging Global Issues.
Prompted by management’s failure to use British Airways (BA) pilots to staff the airline’s new subsidiary carrier OpenSkies, IFALPA made a request for mutual assistance to ALPA pilots this week on behalf of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA).
“The 60,000 pilots of ALPA share BALPA pilots’ concerns, and we stand side by side with our colleagues across the Atlantic,” said ALPA’s president, Capt. John Prater. BALPA, which represents nearly all of BA’s 3,200 pilots, is to ballot for strike action following weeks of unsuccessful negotiations with the airline.
“OpenSkies is being set up with BA money, will fly BA planes, and draw on the BA brand; and a brand is more than a tailfin, it is about its people and the BA pilot community is making a stand to protect that brand,” said BALPA General Secretary Jim McAuslan in a statement issued to the news media this week.
BALPA’s request was one of many issues discussed at a recent joint meeting between ALPA and the European Cockpit Association (ECA). The meeting, which was held on January 24 at ALPA’s Virginia offices, centered on enhancing collaboration between North American and European pilots on all global issues, including the upcoming second round of air transport service negotiations.
“Whether in the United Kingdom, the rest of Europe, or the United States, pilots face similar challenges in the global airline industry,” Capt. Martin Chalk, European Cockpit Association president, said at the meeting. “The best way to meet the challenges of our profession is for pilots to develop our own solutions and work together to make them a reality.”
“Working together to resolve challenges is what union pilots do, whether it’s across a tarmac or across an ocean,” said ALPA’s first vice-president, Capt. Paul Rice. “We must address the singular concern that the OpenSkies airline presents to our BALPA brothers and sisters and also future issues that may arise from the continued U.S.-EU negotiations.”
Chalk was joined by Capt. Carlos Salas, ECA chairman of external relations; ECA Secretary-General Phillip von Schöppenthau; and ECA Policy Advisor Céline Canu. In addition to Rice, ALPA participants included Ana McAhron-Schulz, director of the Economic and Financial Analysis Department, Russ Bailey, senior attorney in the Legal Department. Due to a previous commitment, Capt. Rick Dominguez, chairman of ALPA’s International Affairs Committee, was unable to attend.
