TA2
07-01-2022, 05:55 PM
#1
Banned
Thread Starter
Joined APC: May 2022
Posts: 184
The Tumi TA: Time to Unpack the Mess
The Tumi TA: Time to Unpack the Mess
Have you ever seen a United pilot toting a Tumi bag? I haven’t. Apparently, the Negotiating Committee thought we would love them. How could the Master Chairman and the Negotiating Committee get it so wrong? How could they be so out of touch? The answer is relatively simple, they have all been focused on the wrong goal. A substance of a shiny new contract to the line pilot is different than the substance of a shiny new contract to a future ALPA National presidential candidate.
Many pilots don’t realize that the Negotiating Committee works directly for the Master Chairman, so while our displeasure is often directed toward that committee, they are merely an extension of the MEC Chairman. They do what he or she directs them to do because the Master Chairman is the MEC when the MEC is not in session. The current MEC Chairman and his immediate predecessor are directly responsible for this mess, trading away contractual provisions that guarantee safety and quality of life, as well as tangible benefits, in exchange for pieces of silver.
In this particular situation, the majority of the LEC representatives have been focused on getting our former Master Chairman elected to ALPA National president next Fall. They have been so focused on this singular campaign that they have neglected their most basic and essential responsibilities at the MEC, that of watchdogging the MEC officers and committees.
The company’s gift to our most important union representative, our Master Chairman and UAL BOD member, worth millions of dollars, should have raised eyebrows. Reading the fine print, a diligent pilot discovered the “gift” in a large, SEC filing. The Master Chairman and his sycophants denied knowledge of the gift. Some even argued he should keep it. To this day, the MEC has put out no information indicating whether the former chairman still has this massive benefit. A gift of this nature undermines the trust the pilots place in their elected union officials. It creates many concerns, and on the heels of it we have this TA.
Considering the history of the last six years, this was inevitable. Many saw it coming. Many ignored it, and many worked to silence voices who were trying to warn us. The various forums were and still are coopted by operatives who banned unionists from speaking their minds. Freedom of speech on the union shop floor is highly protected, and our highest union officials should make protecting that freedom one of their highest priorities, even when that speech doesn’t benefit them.
Some LEC council officers have threatened other council officers in order to protect the MEC machine. We have seen committee members who raised questions or who vigorously defended our contract voted out of their positions.
We saw fake Facebook profiles act to support the MEC, attacking those who questioned the Master Chairman or the machine. Our entire MEC was aware of these reprehensible actions. The matter was brought to ALPA National. A call for an investigation was brushed aside. How ironic it is that just last night the MEC Professional Standards Chairman said,
“Urban Dictionary defines ‘Catfishing’ as: the phenomenon of internet predators that fabricate online identities and entire social circles to trick people . . . I had never heard of a situation such as this before.”
Yes, he has.
This is the arrogance of our leadership and of the machine. It claims integrity, superiority, and righteousness, but it has none. Judge them by their actions—not their words.
What about those on the MEC who were trying to do the right thing? First, there aren’t many. That’s because when responsible members of the MEC demanded accountability, they were “voted off the island.” You’re with us or you’re against us was the order of the day. Responsible MECs of the past demanded accountability from the officers and Negotiating Committees and encouraged dissent in order to get the best product available.
How do I know? I’ve worked directly for or with every MEC Chairman since 1985 (the current and former Chairmen when they were in different positions). In almost thirty-eight years as a UAL ALPA member, I have never witnessed this level of sycophancy, patronage, and “by any means necessary,” to achieve a single goal of the ALPA national presidency. It is the same group think mentality that caused two Space Shuttle disasters. It is devoid of CRM and responsible leadership. It is stunning and dangerous, and in organizations like NASA it led to complete house cleaning of upper-level managers.
There are members of the Negotiating Committee/Contract Interpretation Committee who haven’t flown a regular or full line schedule in over twenty years. It’s no mystery that they’re out of touch. It would be naďve to believe they understand your day-to-day experiences and struggles under the current contract.
Union work is supposed to be volunteer work. How many “volunteers” have been shielded in the ivory tower of the MEC Office by full time flight loss pay? How many total hours do they have since they were hired? To be effective at representing pilots, you have to be in touch with them. You have to be a pilot, and I don’t mean holding a type rating and a medical. Sadly, our MEC has turned into a ravenous machine tooled strictly to ensure every action it takes is focused on the goal of getting positions at ALPA National.
Now we see what that has gotten us. Failure.
There is nothing inherently wrong with having a national president from our MEC, a United pilot, but it is not worth, to the average line pilot, what many make it out to be. It provides some level of clout, maybe the tip of a scale on a rare issue, but very little in terms of real value for anyone other than those elected and their friends who follow them to Washington. Who on our MEC would be handed positions at National if we took the presidency? Look to those who have most vehemently argued for this TA as well as defended the MEC over the last few years.
We start to rebuild by being honest with ourselves. We clean house and start at the top. Just like NASA would do. The house-cleaning must include those who enabled this mess from the beginning, and it must include the MEC Officers who have had a hand in all this mess, as well as the Negotiating Committee. Pay special attention to those who attempt to turn these views around on the author or attack those who defend my words. Those are the enablers and sycophants that caused us to be where we are today.
There will be LEC representatives and committee volunteers with excuses. They may offer mea culpas. These may be sincere, and they might deserve your forgiveness, but they do not deserve your continued trust as representatives. They have failed in their custodial responsibilities. They will continue to go along and get along when the Negotiating Committee and Master Chairman bring you the next just-good-enough TA that they think they can get passed with fifty-percent plus one. They didn’t have the guts to speak the truth when it was needed, so we should thank them and ask them to move on.
Then there are those who have defended and will continue to defend the TA. We’ve seen letters from such representatives in LECs. They should be shown the way back to the line without delay. They believe you don’t deserve anything better than this TA.
Our new Master Chairman is no different from our former Master Chairman. In fact, he’s his hand-picked successor, put in place to further the ALPA National political aspiration. If you don’t believe this, read Chairman Insler’s words from his farewell letter (emphasis mine):
“Captain Mike Hamilton, who served as my trusted Executive Administrator for the last four years . . . will continue building on the foundation that we have laid.”
Our MEC Chairman was handpicked by the former. I can’t recall a case of such blatant, orchestrated successorship in MEC history.
In his initial letter to the pilots, our new Master Chairman wrote:
“Our top priority remains reaching an industry leading contract that protects scope, improves work rules—especially for reserves, and improves pay and benefits across the entire seniority list.”
Why in the world would all of these people be so eager to see us pass this TA? In the simplest terms, having a contract—any contract—on his resume in two months at the ALPA National elections would help our former chairman win the presidency. He gets a million dollar a year job with a pension, his friends are rewarded with positions, and you get the Tumi TA as a contract.
If you believe you deserve better in a contract than just being a stepping stone for those with political aspirations, here’s what you can do:
1) Never forget that this is YOUR union.
2) Barrage your representatives with phone calls and emails and make them understand that they need to recall the negotiating committee immediately.
3) If they argue and resist, demand again that they recall the negotiating committee.
4) If they continue to resist, begin immediate recalls of these officers.
5) Finally, demand that the Negotiating Committee be recalled.
6) Then it is time to look at the MEC officers.
Take your union back.
Have you ever seen a United pilot toting a Tumi bag? I haven’t. Apparently, the Negotiating Committee thought we would love them. How could the Master Chairman and the Negotiating Committee get it so wrong? How could they be so out of touch? The answer is relatively simple, they have all been focused on the wrong goal. A substance of a shiny new contract to the line pilot is different than the substance of a shiny new contract to a future ALPA National presidential candidate.
Many pilots don’t realize that the Negotiating Committee works directly for the Master Chairman, so while our displeasure is often directed toward that committee, they are merely an extension of the MEC Chairman. They do what he or she directs them to do because the Master Chairman is the MEC when the MEC is not in session. The current MEC Chairman and his immediate predecessor are directly responsible for this mess, trading away contractual provisions that guarantee safety and quality of life, as well as tangible benefits, in exchange for pieces of silver.
In this particular situation, the majority of the LEC representatives have been focused on getting our former Master Chairman elected to ALPA National president next Fall. They have been so focused on this singular campaign that they have neglected their most basic and essential responsibilities at the MEC, that of watchdogging the MEC officers and committees.
The company’s gift to our most important union representative, our Master Chairman and UAL BOD member, worth millions of dollars, should have raised eyebrows. Reading the fine print, a diligent pilot discovered the “gift” in a large, SEC filing. The Master Chairman and his sycophants denied knowledge of the gift. Some even argued he should keep it. To this day, the MEC has put out no information indicating whether the former chairman still has this massive benefit. A gift of this nature undermines the trust the pilots place in their elected union officials. It creates many concerns, and on the heels of it we have this TA.
Considering the history of the last six years, this was inevitable. Many saw it coming. Many ignored it, and many worked to silence voices who were trying to warn us. The various forums were and still are coopted by operatives who banned unionists from speaking their minds. Freedom of speech on the union shop floor is highly protected, and our highest union officials should make protecting that freedom one of their highest priorities, even when that speech doesn’t benefit them.
Some LEC council officers have threatened other council officers in order to protect the MEC machine. We have seen committee members who raised questions or who vigorously defended our contract voted out of their positions.
We saw fake Facebook profiles act to support the MEC, attacking those who questioned the Master Chairman or the machine. Our entire MEC was aware of these reprehensible actions. The matter was brought to ALPA National. A call for an investigation was brushed aside. How ironic it is that just last night the MEC Professional Standards Chairman said,
“Urban Dictionary defines ‘Catfishing’ as: the phenomenon of internet predators that fabricate online identities and entire social circles to trick people . . . I had never heard of a situation such as this before.”
Yes, he has.
This is the arrogance of our leadership and of the machine. It claims integrity, superiority, and righteousness, but it has none. Judge them by their actions—not their words.
What about those on the MEC who were trying to do the right thing? First, there aren’t many. That’s because when responsible members of the MEC demanded accountability, they were “voted off the island.” You’re with us or you’re against us was the order of the day. Responsible MECs of the past demanded accountability from the officers and Negotiating Committees and encouraged dissent in order to get the best product available.
How do I know? I’ve worked directly for or with every MEC Chairman since 1985 (the current and former Chairmen when they were in different positions). In almost thirty-eight years as a UAL ALPA member, I have never witnessed this level of sycophancy, patronage, and “by any means necessary,” to achieve a single goal of the ALPA national presidency. It is the same group think mentality that caused two Space Shuttle disasters. It is devoid of CRM and responsible leadership. It is stunning and dangerous, and in organizations like NASA it led to complete house cleaning of upper-level managers.
There are members of the Negotiating Committee/Contract Interpretation Committee who haven’t flown a regular or full line schedule in over twenty years. It’s no mystery that they’re out of touch. It would be naďve to believe they understand your day-to-day experiences and struggles under the current contract.
Union work is supposed to be volunteer work. How many “volunteers” have been shielded in the ivory tower of the MEC Office by full time flight loss pay? How many total hours do they have since they were hired? To be effective at representing pilots, you have to be in touch with them. You have to be a pilot, and I don’t mean holding a type rating and a medical. Sadly, our MEC has turned into a ravenous machine tooled strictly to ensure every action it takes is focused on the goal of getting positions at ALPA National.
Now we see what that has gotten us. Failure.
There is nothing inherently wrong with having a national president from our MEC, a United pilot, but it is not worth, to the average line pilot, what many make it out to be. It provides some level of clout, maybe the tip of a scale on a rare issue, but very little in terms of real value for anyone other than those elected and their friends who follow them to Washington. Who on our MEC would be handed positions at National if we took the presidency? Look to those who have most vehemently argued for this TA as well as defended the MEC over the last few years.
We start to rebuild by being honest with ourselves. We clean house and start at the top. Just like NASA would do. The house-cleaning must include those who enabled this mess from the beginning, and it must include the MEC Officers who have had a hand in all this mess, as well as the Negotiating Committee. Pay special attention to those who attempt to turn these views around on the author or attack those who defend my words. Those are the enablers and sycophants that caused us to be where we are today.
There will be LEC representatives and committee volunteers with excuses. They may offer mea culpas. These may be sincere, and they might deserve your forgiveness, but they do not deserve your continued trust as representatives. They have failed in their custodial responsibilities. They will continue to go along and get along when the Negotiating Committee and Master Chairman bring you the next just-good-enough TA that they think they can get passed with fifty-percent plus one. They didn’t have the guts to speak the truth when it was needed, so we should thank them and ask them to move on.
Then there are those who have defended and will continue to defend the TA. We’ve seen letters from such representatives in LECs. They should be shown the way back to the line without delay. They believe you don’t deserve anything better than this TA.
Our new Master Chairman is no different from our former Master Chairman. In fact, he’s his hand-picked successor, put in place to further the ALPA National political aspiration. If you don’t believe this, read Chairman Insler’s words from his farewell letter (emphasis mine):
“Captain Mike Hamilton, who served as my trusted Executive Administrator for the last four years . . . will continue building on the foundation that we have laid.”
Our MEC Chairman was handpicked by the former. I can’t recall a case of such blatant, orchestrated successorship in MEC history.
In his initial letter to the pilots, our new Master Chairman wrote:
“Our top priority remains reaching an industry leading contract that protects scope, improves work rules—especially for reserves, and improves pay and benefits across the entire seniority list.”
Why in the world would all of these people be so eager to see us pass this TA? In the simplest terms, having a contract—any contract—on his resume in two months at the ALPA National elections would help our former chairman win the presidency. He gets a million dollar a year job with a pension, his friends are rewarded with positions, and you get the Tumi TA as a contract.
If you believe you deserve better in a contract than just being a stepping stone for those with political aspirations, here’s what you can do:
1) Never forget that this is YOUR union.
2) Barrage your representatives with phone calls and emails and make them understand that they need to recall the negotiating committee immediately.
3) If they argue and resist, demand again that they recall the negotiating committee.
4) If they continue to resist, begin immediate recalls of these officers.
5) Finally, demand that the Negotiating Committee be recalled.
6) Then it is time to look at the MEC officers.
Take your union back.
Last edited by BobbyLeeSwagger; 07-01-2022 at 07:12 PM.
07-02-2022, 04:27 AM
#5
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2018
Position: Retired from UAL
Posts: 175
The Tumi TA: Time to Unpack the Mess
Have you ever seen a United pilot toting a Tumi bag? I haven’t. Apparently, the Negotiating Committee thought we would love them. How could the Master Chairman and the Negotiating Committee get it so wrong? How could they be so out of touch? The answer is relatively simple, they have all been focused on the wrong goal. A substance of a shiny new contract to the line pilot is different than the substance of a shiny new contract to a future ALPA National presidential candidate.
Many pilots don’t realize that the Negotiating Committee works directly for the Master Chairman, so while our displeasure is often directed toward that committee, they are merely an extension of the MEC Chairman. They do what he or she directs them to do because the Master Chairman is the MEC when the MEC is not in session. The current MEC Chairman and his immediate predecessor are directly responsible for this mess, trading away contractual provisions that guarantee safety and quality of life, as well as tangible benefits, in exchange for pieces of silver.
In this particular situation, the majority of the LEC representatives have been focused on getting our former Master Chairman elected to ALPA National president next Fall. They have been so focused on this singular campaign that they have neglected their most basic and essential responsibilities at the MEC, that of watchdogging the MEC officers and committees.
The company’s gift to our most important union representative, our Master Chairman and UAL BOD member, worth millions of dollars, should have raised eyebrows. Reading the fine print, a diligent pilot discovered the “gift” in a large, SEC filing. The Master Chairman and his sycophants denied knowledge of the gift. Some even argued he should keep it. To this day, the MEC has put out no information indicating whether the former chairman still has this massive benefit. A gift of this nature undermines the trust the pilots place in their elected union officials. It creates many concerns, and on the heels of it we have this TA.
Considering the history of the last six years, this was inevitable. Many saw it coming. Many ignored it, and many worked to silence voices who were trying to warn us. The various forums were and still are coopted by operatives who banned unionists from speaking their minds. Freedom of speech on the union shop floor is highly protected, and our highest union officials should make protecting that freedom one of their highest priorities, even when that speech doesn’t benefit them.
Some LEC council officers have threatened other council officers in order to protect the MEC machine. We have seen committee members who raised questions or who vigorously defended our contract voted out of their positions.
We saw fake Facebook profiles act to support the MEC, attacking those who questioned the Master Chairman or the machine. Our entire MEC was aware of these reprehensible actions. The matter was brought to ALPA National. A call for an investigation was brushed aside. How ironic it is that just last night the MEC Professional Standards Chairman said,
“Urban Dictionary defines ‘Catfishing’ as: the phenomenon of internet predators that fabricate online identities and entire social circles to trick people . . . I had never heard of a situation such as this before.”
Yes, he has.
This is the arrogance of our leadership and of the machine. It claims integrity, superiority, and righteousness, but it has none. Judge them by their actions—not their words.
What about those on the MEC who were trying to do the right thing? First, there aren’t many. That’s because when responsible members of the MEC demanded accountability, they were “voted off the island.” You’re with us or you’re against us was the order of the day. Responsible MECs of the past demanded accountability from the officers and Negotiating Committees and encouraged dissent in order to get the best product available.
How do I know? I’ve worked directly for or with every MEC Chairman since 1985 (the current and former Chairmen when they were in different positions). In almost thirty-eight years as a UAL ALPA member, I have never witnessed this level of sycophancy, patronage, and “by any means necessary,” to achieve a single goal of the ALPA national presidency. It is the same group think mentality that caused two Space Shuttle disasters. It is devoid of CRM and responsible leadership. It is stunning and dangerous, and in organizations like NASA it led to complete house cleaning of upper-level managers.
There are members of the Negotiating Committee/Contract Interpretation Committee who haven’t flown a regular or full line schedule in over twenty years. It’s no mystery that they’re out of touch. It would be naďve to believe they understand your day-to-day experiences and struggles under the current contract.
Union work is supposed to be volunteer work. How many “volunteers” have been shielded in the ivory tower of the MEC Office by full time flight loss pay? How many total hours do they have since they were hired? To be effective at representing pilots, you have to be in touch with them. You have to be a pilot, and I don’t mean holding a type rating and a medical. Sadly, our MEC has turned into a ravenous machine tooled strictly to ensure every action it takes is focused on the goal of getting positions at ALPA National.
Now we see what that has gotten us. Failure.
There is nothing inherently wrong with having a national president from our MEC, a United pilot, but it is not worth, to the average line pilot, what many make it out to be. It provides some level of clout, maybe the tip of a scale on a rare issue, but very little in terms of real value for anyone other than those elected and their friends who follow them to Washington. Who on our MEC would be handed positions at National if we took the presidency? Look to those who have most vehemently argued for this TA as well as defended the MEC over the last few years.
We start to rebuild by being honest with ourselves. We clean house and start at the top. Just like NASA would do. The house-cleaning must include those who enabled this mess from the beginning, and it must include the MEC Officers who have had a hand in all this mess, as well as the Negotiating Committee. Pay special attention to those who attempt to turn these views around on the author or attack those who defend my words. Those are the enablers and sycophants that caused us to be where we are today.
There will be LEC representatives and committee volunteers with excuses. They may offer mea culpas. These may be sincere, and they might deserve your forgiveness, but they do not deserve your continued trust as representatives. They have failed in their custodial responsibilities. They will continue to go along and get along when the Negotiating Committee and Master Chairman bring you the next just-good-enough TA that they think they can get passed with fifty-percent plus one. They didn’t have the guts to speak the truth when it was needed, so we should thank them and ask them to move on.
Then there are those who have defended and will continue to defend the TA. We’ve seen letters from such representatives in LECs. They should be shown the way back to the line without delay. They believe you don’t deserve anything better than this TA.
Our new Master Chairman is no different from our former Master Chairman. In fact, he’s his hand-picked successor, put in place to further the ALPA National political aspiration. If you don’t believe this, read Chairman Insler’s words from his farewell letter (emphasis mine):
“Captain Mike Hamilton, who served as my trusted Executive Administrator for the last four years . . . will continue building on the foundation that we have laid.”
Our MEC Chairman was handpicked by the former. I can’t recall a case of such blatant, orchestrated successorship in MEC history.
In his initial letter to the pilots, our new Master Chairman wrote:
“Our top priority remains reaching an industry leading contract that protects scope, improves work rules—especially for reserves, and improves pay and benefits across the entire seniority list.”
Why in the world would all of these people be so eager to see us pass this TA? In the simplest terms, having a contract—any contract—on his resume in two months at the ALPA National elections would help our former chairman win the presidency. He gets a million dollar a year job with a pension, his friends are rewarded with positions, and you get the Tumi TA as a contract.
If you believe you deserve better in a contract than just being a stepping stone for those with political aspirations, here’s what you can do:
1) Never forget that this is YOUR union.
2) Barrage your representatives with phone calls and emails and make them understand that they need to recall the negotiating committee immediately.
3) If they argue and resist, demand again that they recall the negotiating committee.
4) If they continue to resist, begin immediate recalls of these officers.
5) Finally, demand that the Negotiating Committee be recalled.
6) Then it is time to look at the MEC officers.
Take your union back.
Have you ever seen a United pilot toting a Tumi bag? I haven’t. Apparently, the Negotiating Committee thought we would love them. How could the Master Chairman and the Negotiating Committee get it so wrong? How could they be so out of touch? The answer is relatively simple, they have all been focused on the wrong goal. A substance of a shiny new contract to the line pilot is different than the substance of a shiny new contract to a future ALPA National presidential candidate.
Many pilots don’t realize that the Negotiating Committee works directly for the Master Chairman, so while our displeasure is often directed toward that committee, they are merely an extension of the MEC Chairman. They do what he or she directs them to do because the Master Chairman is the MEC when the MEC is not in session. The current MEC Chairman and his immediate predecessor are directly responsible for this mess, trading away contractual provisions that guarantee safety and quality of life, as well as tangible benefits, in exchange for pieces of silver.
In this particular situation, the majority of the LEC representatives have been focused on getting our former Master Chairman elected to ALPA National president next Fall. They have been so focused on this singular campaign that they have neglected their most basic and essential responsibilities at the MEC, that of watchdogging the MEC officers and committees.
The company’s gift to our most important union representative, our Master Chairman and UAL BOD member, worth millions of dollars, should have raised eyebrows. Reading the fine print, a diligent pilot discovered the “gift” in a large, SEC filing. The Master Chairman and his sycophants denied knowledge of the gift. Some even argued he should keep it. To this day, the MEC has put out no information indicating whether the former chairman still has this massive benefit. A gift of this nature undermines the trust the pilots place in their elected union officials. It creates many concerns, and on the heels of it we have this TA.
Considering the history of the last six years, this was inevitable. Many saw it coming. Many ignored it, and many worked to silence voices who were trying to warn us. The various forums were and still are coopted by operatives who banned unionists from speaking their minds. Freedom of speech on the union shop floor is highly protected, and our highest union officials should make protecting that freedom one of their highest priorities, even when that speech doesn’t benefit them.
Some LEC council officers have threatened other council officers in order to protect the MEC machine. We have seen committee members who raised questions or who vigorously defended our contract voted out of their positions.
We saw fake Facebook profiles act to support the MEC, attacking those who questioned the Master Chairman or the machine. Our entire MEC was aware of these reprehensible actions. The matter was brought to ALPA National. A call for an investigation was brushed aside. How ironic it is that just last night the MEC Professional Standards Chairman said,
“Urban Dictionary defines ‘Catfishing’ as: the phenomenon of internet predators that fabricate online identities and entire social circles to trick people . . . I had never heard of a situation such as this before.”
Yes, he has.
This is the arrogance of our leadership and of the machine. It claims integrity, superiority, and righteousness, but it has none. Judge them by their actions—not their words.
What about those on the MEC who were trying to do the right thing? First, there aren’t many. That’s because when responsible members of the MEC demanded accountability, they were “voted off the island.” You’re with us or you’re against us was the order of the day. Responsible MECs of the past demanded accountability from the officers and Negotiating Committees and encouraged dissent in order to get the best product available.
How do I know? I’ve worked directly for or with every MEC Chairman since 1985 (the current and former Chairmen when they were in different positions). In almost thirty-eight years as a UAL ALPA member, I have never witnessed this level of sycophancy, patronage, and “by any means necessary,” to achieve a single goal of the ALPA national presidency. It is the same group think mentality that caused two Space Shuttle disasters. It is devoid of CRM and responsible leadership. It is stunning and dangerous, and in organizations like NASA it led to complete house cleaning of upper-level managers.
There are members of the Negotiating Committee/Contract Interpretation Committee who haven’t flown a regular or full line schedule in over twenty years. It’s no mystery that they’re out of touch. It would be naďve to believe they understand your day-to-day experiences and struggles under the current contract.
Union work is supposed to be volunteer work. How many “volunteers” have been shielded in the ivory tower of the MEC Office by full time flight loss pay? How many total hours do they have since they were hired? To be effective at representing pilots, you have to be in touch with them. You have to be a pilot, and I don’t mean holding a type rating and a medical. Sadly, our MEC has turned into a ravenous machine tooled strictly to ensure every action it takes is focused on the goal of getting positions at ALPA National.
Now we see what that has gotten us. Failure.
There is nothing inherently wrong with having a national president from our MEC, a United pilot, but it is not worth, to the average line pilot, what many make it out to be. It provides some level of clout, maybe the tip of a scale on a rare issue, but very little in terms of real value for anyone other than those elected and their friends who follow them to Washington. Who on our MEC would be handed positions at National if we took the presidency? Look to those who have most vehemently argued for this TA as well as defended the MEC over the last few years.
We start to rebuild by being honest with ourselves. We clean house and start at the top. Just like NASA would do. The house-cleaning must include those who enabled this mess from the beginning, and it must include the MEC Officers who have had a hand in all this mess, as well as the Negotiating Committee. Pay special attention to those who attempt to turn these views around on the author or attack those who defend my words. Those are the enablers and sycophants that caused us to be where we are today.
There will be LEC representatives and committee volunteers with excuses. They may offer mea culpas. These may be sincere, and they might deserve your forgiveness, but they do not deserve your continued trust as representatives. They have failed in their custodial responsibilities. They will continue to go along and get along when the Negotiating Committee and Master Chairman bring you the next just-good-enough TA that they think they can get passed with fifty-percent plus one. They didn’t have the guts to speak the truth when it was needed, so we should thank them and ask them to move on.
Then there are those who have defended and will continue to defend the TA. We’ve seen letters from such representatives in LECs. They should be shown the way back to the line without delay. They believe you don’t deserve anything better than this TA.
Our new Master Chairman is no different from our former Master Chairman. In fact, he’s his hand-picked successor, put in place to further the ALPA National political aspiration. If you don’t believe this, read Chairman Insler’s words from his farewell letter (emphasis mine):
“Captain Mike Hamilton, who served as my trusted Executive Administrator for the last four years . . . will continue building on the foundation that we have laid.”
Our MEC Chairman was handpicked by the former. I can’t recall a case of such blatant, orchestrated successorship in MEC history.
In his initial letter to the pilots, our new Master Chairman wrote:
“Our top priority remains reaching an industry leading contract that protects scope, improves work rules—especially for reserves, and improves pay and benefits across the entire seniority list.”
Why in the world would all of these people be so eager to see us pass this TA? In the simplest terms, having a contract—any contract—on his resume in two months at the ALPA National elections would help our former chairman win the presidency. He gets a million dollar a year job with a pension, his friends are rewarded with positions, and you get the Tumi TA as a contract.
If you believe you deserve better in a contract than just being a stepping stone for those with political aspirations, here’s what you can do:
1) Never forget that this is YOUR union.
2) Barrage your representatives with phone calls and emails and make them understand that they need to recall the negotiating committee immediately.
3) If they argue and resist, demand again that they recall the negotiating committee.
4) If they continue to resist, begin immediate recalls of these officers.
5) Finally, demand that the Negotiating Committee be recalled.
6) Then it is time to look at the MEC officers.
Take your union back.
Excellent post and history lesson. As a retired 1990 hire, this is required reading for all of our new folks.
07-02-2022, 05:23 AM
#6
Banned
Thread Starter
Joined APC: May 2022
Posts: 184
“Our top priority remains reaching an industry leading contract that protects scope, improves work rules—especially for reserves, and improves pay and benefits across the entire seniority list.” - MC Mike Hamilton
Funny how TA2022 accomplishes exactly the OPPOSITE of this statement.
Scope weakened by extra weight for CRJ.
Work rules weakened by reassignment rules.
Reserve made worse by 0600 on first day.
Pay not commensurate with inflation.
Benefits with higher costs to pilots.
I guess that’s what happens when management writes the agreements and you sign them.
This is CORRUPTION at the highest level.
Funny how TA2022 accomplishes exactly the OPPOSITE of this statement.
Scope weakened by extra weight for CRJ.
Work rules weakened by reassignment rules.
Reserve made worse by 0600 on first day.
Pay not commensurate with inflation.
Benefits with higher costs to pilots.
I guess that’s what happens when management writes the agreements and you sign them.
This is CORRUPTION at the highest level.
07-02-2022, 05:26 AM
#7
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2010
Position: N/A
Posts: 607
I think scope was weakened more by allowing non SL instructors than the 550 weight increase. Neither is good though. When we were surveyed last decade, I said any decrease in scope was a no vote for me. So I voted no.
07-02-2022, 05:34 AM
#8
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: May 2022
Posts: 225
“Our top priority remains reaching an industry leading contract that protects scope, improves work rules—especially for reserves, and improves pay and benefits across the entire seniority list.” - MC Mike Hamilton
Funny how TA2022 accomplishes exactly the OPPOSITE of this statement.
Scope weakened by extra weight for CRJ.
Work rules weakened by reassignment rules.
Reserve made worse by 0600 on first day.
Pay not commensurate with inflation.
Benefits with higher costs to pilots.
I guess that’s what happens when management writes the agreements and you sign them.
This is CORRUPTION at the highest level.
Funny how TA2022 accomplishes exactly the OPPOSITE of this statement.
Scope weakened by extra weight for CRJ.
Work rules weakened by reassignment rules.
Reserve made worse by 0600 on first day.
Pay not commensurate with inflation.
Benefits with higher costs to pilots.
I guess that’s what happens when management writes the agreements and you sign them.
This is CORRUPTION at the highest level.
Personally if I was Scott Kirby, I would be extremely disappointed with both Mike and Brian Quigley. It’s the equivalent of Putin‘s generals telling him that taking over the Ukraine will be no problem. I would be trusting in those individuals to create an agreement that could lock in labor for his growth plan. Kirby wants to win, I don’t think he has the same adversarial view of pilots as Tilton, Smisek etc; his ambition is far larger than a golden parachute. This just cost him a bunch of time and will definitely have operational consequences this summer
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