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Found on the internet..........
Sent: 2/11/2015 11:57:07 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: Re: USAPA - "It Ain't Over"
The great philosopher, Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over til it's over." That accurately describes USAPA today.
USAPA, as you will remember, was started when a corrupt ALPA proved to be incapable of representing us in a variety of important issues from our pensions to bankruptcy to seniority integration. We had no choice but to take the only legal avenue we had and that was to change bargaining agents.
Was creating an in-house union to represent our needs the right course? While the jury is still out on some things like our pension restoration, it can rightly be judged on USAPA's ability to keep the Nicolau Award from becoming the certified seniority list 8 years later. It has been an overwhelming success based on that alone.
But the job isn't finished. We are in the last mile of a long race and this is no time to be complacent about it. It does no one any good to have voted for a large pay increase only to find you are now pulling the landing gear up as an F/O for a Captain hired 15 years after you were.
Even as a relative "new hire" or "Third Lister," you have a dog in this fight. Your rights, even if you think you have few, need to be proclaimed and protected and it won't be protected by the other people sitting at that arbitration hearing. USAPA is the only entity at those hearings that will be representing you.
But who will lead us through the last stretch? The only reason USAPA still exists, is to present and defend our seniority integration process. For the most part, USAPA has to be on autopilot for some time and is now carried along by the momentum of our long established Merger Committee. The Merger Committee has been involved in every aspect of the seniority integration process. They have worked closely with our attorneys, developed a strategy that they and the attorneys believe will be successful, know all the players on the other two teams, know their strengths and their weaknesses. It is the Merger Committee that is now all important in USAPA and to us.
One candidate has been in the forefront of all USAPA efforts since day one. That is Stephan Bradford. Steve promises to continue to fight for your seniority rights and to stay the course. He has the experience and knowledge to carry this union to the end. He has confidence in the present strategy that the Merger Committee and the attorneys have formed and the Merger Committee has full confidence that he will allow them to pursue this strategy.
The other candidate is Dave Ciabattoni.
A little history lesson here is in order. It is no secret that when George Nicolau came to US Airways ALPA MEC and told us that our seniority position could not be supported and that we needed to adjust it or else, it was Dave as an ALPA MEC Rep along with three other Reps using the Roll Call vote to refuse George Nicolau's request thereby creating the crisis that forced us to fight for our seniority for the next 8 years.
Before that, it was Dave and the aforementioned Reps that helped usher in LOA 93 after repeatedly tuning down company proposals only to have a series of worse proposals replace it until we had lost any advantage we would have had. They were outmaneuvered by the company and the result was LOA 93 we suffered under for all these years.
Then it was Dave that helped undermine USAPA President Mike Cleary when he was in office so Dave could run his hand picked candidate Gary Hummel. Then once Gary was in office and Dave realized what a mistake he had made, Dave began a campaign to remove Gary, publicly admitting he and his friends had made a terrible mistake.
More recently, Dave was our Grievance Committee Chairman. Remember the 'slam dunk' 3% raise we never got? Dave fought that battle by combining that 3% Grievance with another, not so slam dunk grievance. When the arbitrator decided against the second Grievance, we automatically lost the 3%. To all that had inside knowledge, it was a bad strategy and cost us the 3% grievance.
In short, no pilot here with the exception of Chip Munn has been so wrong on so many issues that have affected us.
What is Dave's campaign pledge to you now? He will change the Merger Committee with people he picks. Can you say, "Here we go again?" We can't possibly be dumb enough to change that committee at this late stage. But then again, we never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity where important issues are concerned.
Dave's legacy at ALPA was secret roll call votes, secret deals made without the pilots he was representing ever getting the information until AFTER it was too late and picking strategies that were ill advised.
With USAPA, he helped to undermine USAPA's President with innuendo and disinformation so he could place his own candidate in that office and shortly after that, proclaimed he made a mistake.
Even as Grievance Chairman working with the BPR, there was little give and take by him. He ran the Grievance Committee as a one man show with few results. Running USAPA, he would also be a one man show.
So, basically we now have 3 choices for USAPA President.
-- Do nothing, not vote and allow others to decide your fate.
-- Vote for Dave Ciabattoni and allow him and his friends to run the Merger Committee, fighting with our attorneys to change their strategy at a time we all need to devote our energies to gaining advantage.
-- Vote for Stephan Bradford and allow USAPA's Merger Committee to continue the work they started over a year ago.
If you are like me, you feel that this fight has been never ending. But rest assured, the end is very near and it would be a shame to give up now. So I hope you can find a moment or two to finish the job we started 8 years ago and help fight for our seniority one last time. The monies have been paid. The strategies have been decided, the final battle is about to begin. Our opponents are formidable and willing to fight to the end. Are you up for this? You better be. Please vote for Stephan Bradford for USAPA President.
There are two ways to vote.
By phone: 800-826-5530, and follow the prompts.
By email:
https://Ballotpoint.com/USAPA
The closing date for the vote is 14:00 ET, Thursday February 12th.
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