Question for Union people

[SlumTodd_Millionaire]

Todd I know you are smarter than this. My CA this trip is a hard core ALPA man. He has the battle star for his work. His dad worked for CA Rickenbacker. The man has taken me to school about ALPA and Unions, and has help me see the light. He was telling me it was all about the money with CAL.

Your Captain is dead wrong. Sorry, but them's the facts. I suggest you talk to someone that actually sat on the BOD at the time. And just remember: a battle star doesn't mean that someone is informed; it only means that they did their duty.

 

[Gonzo]

Todd he was, and his dad was a network leader(old school) before you were born. Like I said this guy is old school. He makes you and Velo look like pussycats. He thinks we need to get back to the two sides of the union (he will not call it a association). He wants a ALPA SOS(I didn't even know what a SOS was) in support of UAL. He also feels in the post deregulation world the strike in useless and makes a lot of points to support it.

 

[SlumTodd_Millionaire]

Todd he was, and his dad was a network leader(old school) before you were born. Like I said this guy is old school. He makes you and Velo look like pussycats. He thinks we need to get back to the two sides of the union (he will not call it a association). He wants a ALPA SOS(I didn't even know what a SOS was) in support of UAL. He also feels in the post deregulation world the strike in useless and makes a lot of points to support it.

Look, I'm not going to argue with you, Gonzo. If this guy wants to claim that it was about money, he can do so. He's simply wrong. Before you take his word, you should talk to a lot more BOD members. He's in the distinct minority if he believes it had anything to do with money.

 

[JoelT]

I was on the ALPA organizing committee at CAL/CALEX. I then became the first elected ALPA rep at CALEX (XJT). I can say, because I was there, that the merger between the IACP and ALPA actually was partly about money. In as much as the IACP was soon to go bankrupt if they didn't merge and soon. The IACP had just enough cash (12 mil) to negotiate half of a contract for CAL, and none for CALEX. That's about a year and a half of operating capital including dues income.

The IACP were the kings of wasteful spending. Proof is in the MEC boardroom. Most of that furniture was bought in Spain. One desk cost $10,000 alone. About 50k total.

It was us that sought out ALPA. Not the other way around. It took some serious convincing to get ALPA to start up the organizing drive. Once again, so everyone understands, I was there.

 

[SlumTodd_Millionaire]

It was us that sought out ALPA. Not the other way around.

Exactly! This is ALPA's policy on all organizing drives. We always waited for the pilot group to come to us. We never sought out a pilot group to organize because we wanted money.

 

[Hacker15e]

I've got a question/point of discussion about scabs that I was hoping you guys might be able to give some opinion on. Again, I'm a military dude and have no dog in the fight either way.

The posts above about guys at CAL who were scabs in the past, yet now serve on the MEC got me to thinking...

Is it not possible for someone who scabbed in the past, eventually see the light, repent for sins, and buy into the union?

I know that scab is the scarlet letter that marks someone forever, but I'm wondering why that is. Why is it that someone cannot realize that they screwed up immensely, then try and live better in the future. Seems that some of those dudes at the CAL MEC might fit into that mold -- to have screwed their union brothers in the past, but fully realized their mistake and are now fighting to fix their error.

Hell, even people who have KILLED someone are able to be paroled and rehabilitated back into society. Why is it that the scarlet letter can never be erased from the airline industry?

 

[JoelT]

Is it not possible for someone who scabbed in the past, eventually see the light, repent for sins, and buy into the union?

Absolutely! I served with quite a few guys on "The List" at CAL that had turned into models of Trade Unionism. The fella that used to be MEC chair a few years ago was one of them. But, there are still those that are still proud of the time that they "saved" the company.