It is all in the eye of the beholder because you have around 40% of the US Airways pilots who believe that USAPA is the greater of two evils so what you sell as fact is really just your perception as is my very different opinion.
So which is it then end of alpa? You say above that you don't want anyone's job yet I believe the opposite is true. After all you are the one who said "I'll cross ANY picket line with ALPA." Are you a scab for choosing USAPA? Absolutely not but your statements appear to portray you as someone who is chomping at the bit to be one. Please correct my conclusions if I am wrong.
Sharktooth:Thank you for the offer of volunteering for USAPA but I don't really fit in an organization that seems one track minded. After all this whole seniority merger philosophy is listed before promoting aviation safety in the C&BL of USAPA.
You see, that's the problem with ALPA guys. ALPA is not nor has it EVER been a true union. You WILL find that out soon. ALPA is UNLIKE all other unions in the world where the economic disparity is so great between the "most senior" and the "most junior" which is where we are today. In short, ALPA creates its own whipsaw through the use of pattern bargaining, OVER COMPENSATING THE TOP GUYS AND UNDER COMPENSATING THE BOTTOM GUYS.
The leverage ALPA had in deregulation is gone.
YOU CANNOT STRIKE!! THE MARKET WILL NOT ALLOW IT.
If US Airways pilots were to strike today, would WE benefit or would our Companies competitors and consequently THEIR pilots with increased revenue and thereby increased JOB SECURITY?
As 700UW so PROUDLY proclaims, the AMFA had TERRIBLE results at NWA. Not because they didn't have unity, THEY DID. It was because NWA was in BK and NWA wanted to outsource maintenance. And the vendors availible lined up with THEIR mechanics because those mechanics were willing to work for less. It didn't have ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE LAWYERS....it has to do with the RANK AND FILE......the MARKETPLACE RANK AND FILE!
As time progresses I believe that as technology advances and competition in the aviation markets heat up to supply new technology components you will see an increase in "outsourcing" to include PILOTS. Not so much because of availible pilots, but because of technology.
That's right, PILOTS!
After this merger and what pilots here have shed the light on ALPA, if you do NOT think management is smart enough to end-run labor in this fight, you are WRONG and ALPA has NO CLUE how to combat it. Why, in our latest new hire class alone every pilot came from a smaller ALPA carrier! Not so much for better pay but the PROMISE....THE PROMISE, MIND YOU, of the POTENTIAL TO IMPROVE THEIR LOT BY PLAYING THE ODDS. Because the ODDS FAVOR their YOUTH! The ODDS FAVOR the WHIPSAW created by ALPA National and the MEC's.
Open skies is around the corner, and if you think ALPA's international comraderie of 63,000 pilots is going to stop it, think again. For every ALPA pilot there is FOUR pilots WITH ATP'S and ATPL's at domestic AND foreign carriers waiting to take your place.....forget about me "scabbing" which is what YOU WANT ME TO DO! There's plenty out there that WILL! And that, my friend is whom I KNOW I HAVE TO COMPETE WITH....NOT YOU! (except for Nicolau/merger issues, which mimics scabbing)
ALPA is run by pilots and lawyers that simply work their way to the top and leave the bottom tier hanging.....a history lesson that is NOT written by me as I have posted this many times before. So what if ALPA collapses, the money paid for by YOUR dues will provide their retirements NOW! Can I prove it now....NOT QUANTIFIABLY AT THIS JUNCTURE IN TIME.....BUT THE NEXT FIVE YEARS WILL PROVE OTHERWISE.
As for my crossing ANY ALPA picket line, I can say that with confidence because odds are there will never BE a strike at any ALPA carrier in the remainder of my career.....with the other airlines benefiting from the customer run-off and the price of Jet-A being so high that the relief from the over-head of paying employees make it a sound business practice to go into BK and LOCK OUT EMPLOYEES!
Besides, whether it's ALPA or USAPA, the East MEC is LOCKING YOU WEST PILOTS OUT OF CAPTAINS SEATS AND I FOR ONE WILL NOT GIVE MINE UP TO YOU! My backup plan if USAPA fails is to do EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO KEEP YOU IN PHX/LAS. We may get paid less but I guess I'll just have to increase my pay with the upgrade and give the East coast flying to the new guys. We can promise our attrition to the new-hires. If we get separate operations the promise of quick upgrades to the new-hires out East that will dilute your votes and increase the possibility of a quicker advancement for them....which is EXACTLY WHAT THE EAST MEC PLANS TO DO! USAPA is trying to PREVENT THAT! But if that is what you want, then far be it from me to deny you. If we can't vote you out, we breed you out.
THINK ABOUT IT!
Maybe 40% of the pilots feel that USAPA is the greater of two evils but 99% feel that Nicolau IS THE EVIL and that we here out East can ALL agree on. There is NO CONTRACT with Nicolau that will satify anyone here. Someone will blink and it won't be East. The only TRUE option the West has, regardless, is that by voting USAPA (and I won't win you over because you don't see it) it eliminates the SUPER-MAJORITY of the East AND West and puts your votes ON PAR with the majority East pilots. Remember we only need 1,422 pilots to block a TA under ALPA....something YOU guys seem to blind to see, where with the combined group East and West under USAPA your power increases with a combined vote.
Look, I've explained this ad nausem. I will have to say that workers at most other labor unions understand this principle. PILOT unions, however, are so focused on THEMSELVES they never stop to think of the other possibilities.....the ones that STAB you in the back!
I won't have to scab. The disunity is doing it for ME!
"Did I touch a nerve."is a question, btw..that'd go with a ?, for future reference..if you haven't yet edited the post.
