RedeyeAV8r

Just like The good ol USA with respect to taxes.

What does society think of people who don't pay their taxes?

What does the government do to them if they don't?

Adlerdriver

Leverage from our dues???
Are we paying dues to our union so that we can "exercise leverage" against the same union?

Maybe my memory is failing, but I don't seem to remember too many members of ALPA voting with their feet or exercising "leverage" prior to 2006 when we didn't have agency shop.

Do you really think a significant amount would exercise that option now if it was available or is this all about principle?

FXDX

Wow. The idea that union dues are basically taxes. Possibly.

FXDX

This is where union leadership and pilots in general are sometimes too smart by half. ALPA finally gets the pilot group (and the Company reluctantly) to sign off on Agency Shop, selling it to the pilot group with the bait and switch of we will prevent any freeloaders from working at FedEx. Everybody shouts amen and votes for the contract.

But wait, since ALPA didn't have the balls to go after current non-members, they grandfathered them in. Why? Can't change the employment requirements of those 150 or so pilots. Well how come we can change the employment requirements of the other 4250 pilots? Because they WILLINGLY agreed to change their employment requirements (and gave up their ability to ever quit the union without paying a maintenance fee equal to dues) by voting for the contract with Agency Shop in it! It would be tough to say that we were forced into Agency Shop. That is why it will never change without voting in a new union.

So ALPA, thinking it had scored a major coup by capturing dues from everyone (from then forward) actually just put another wedge in the pilot group.

A couple years later they (ALPA) helps screw about 70% of the membership, and then wonder why there is no unity going forward. Meanwhile the company sits back and marvels at how devisive this clause has become and why hadn't they acquiesced to this demand in the previous contract.

The people who should be angry about Agency Shop are those who have been hired since the 2006 CBA, as they were denied their freedom to choose to be in the union or not by those who were here before them. They got the real short end of the shaft, a kind of union B scale, forced on them by those of us had already gotten ours.

This is still a free country. Union membership should be an individual's free choice, based on their values and perception of the benefits of membership. It shouldn't be a mandatory tax that you have to pay to people you may not have the slightest agreement with in terms of issues and politics in order to have a job.

I would love to see Agency Shop go away, but it won't happen with an ALPA contract.

ClutchCargo

Well, here's a question: Does the APA, IPA, SWAPA, USAPA, IBT have agency shop?

Busboy

Two things:

1) All post 2006 CBA new hires DO have a choice of not paying dues...They don't have to work here. No one is forcing them to come to work at an agency shop company. And, if they come here planning to be non-dues paying crewmembers. We don't want them.

2) Everyone hired at FDX can make their own decision on joining the union or not. But, everyone must pay their share of the cost of negotiating, administering and representing ALL of the pilots on the property, members or not.


I'm not sure how ALPA helped screw 70% of our membership. If you're talking about age 60...Sadly, that ship was going to sail, with or without us. Would I have liked FDX-ALPA leadership to have stood up for our wishes. Yes. Would it have done any good. No.

If that and the way retroactivity was introduced and handled is what you're referring to as a wedge in pilot group...I would have to say, you need to get over it!! I myself, was one of the most outspoken critics of the Age 60/retroactivity changes. Many arguments by phone and email with our ALPA reps over it, at that time. But, it's done, it's here to stay and I'm not going to try and destroy our union, over it.

golfandfly

Wonder why we have a weak union?

Just reading this whining about paying 2% dues can pretty much explain it. I like agency shop. I don't like people leeching off of me that get to enjoy the work rules that we have. If you don't like the union, you can quit. You will pay your 2% as a non member. If you don't like that, then quit and work for a nonunion company. See how much you enjoy that.

Instead of constant complaining, step up and be a part of the process. There are usually a handful of folks that run for office so your chances are good that YOU can become a block rep or a member of an important committee. The union doesn't have near enough volunteers but we have more than our fair share of whiners.

Quit being so damn cheap, pay your 2%, give your time and make a difference...

FDXLAG

What does the Government do them if they dont pay taxes? Make them Secretary of the Treasury? Gives them "free" cell phones.

In the sense that anything that costs a couple billion can be considered free.

Was that a trick question?

Popeye

After the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Ben Franklin replied to a question of whether we had a Monarchy or a Republic, "A Republic, if you can keep it."

The same sentiment rings true for our group today. We must find among ourselves people of reason and sound character, to offer their leadership and counsel for the betterment of our cause. Be it professionalism, safety, quality of life, or money. While there will certainly be differences among us regarding how we might rank order those and other interests, we had better find enough common principles to support the efforts needed to achieve them.

It might appear that we have shaken that common bond, and perhaps we have. Here is another quote that comes to mind, "Adversity doesn't build character, it reveals it." So while we attempt to regroup, recall and re-elect our union, we might also reflect on what we think our union should be and what we will do to make that a reality. If all you want is a pin and a lanyard, you can ask somebody to get one for you in Seoul. If you believe that there exists some commonality of value and purpose in our profession and in the sacrifices you and your family made to get you to this place and time, then it should matter little if we are an agency shop or not, when it comes to protecting it.

Pursuing individual agendas that break down our unity might produce limited short term gains, but at what price? Where we go from here will have a monumental impact on those mentioned and likely many other meaningful issues. One thing seems a certainty and I'll borrow another famous quote from Franklin, "We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."

FXDX

If you feel that the union is the end all, that is great. I am a member, and I pay my dues, I support the SIG 100% (better even than some of our national representatives) and I vote. I have stood the picket line here at FedEx. I even volunteered for a while, admittedly in a very limited capacity. I researched membership in the NC and was steered away by those on the MEC I contacted. I am a union member.

I am not, however, a robot who will ignore my core beliefs and values based on that membership and support causes that I feel are detrimental to my livelihood and more importantly to my country at large.