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Seggy
The problem with the idea that if you don't like something "get involved" is murky. And you know exactly what I'm talking about because you and another user were there when some things were said a few years ago when my name went up for some 'stuff'.
I've been bitching, complaining, screaming and attempting to volunteer for over a decade.
However, the power structure we
had at DALPA wasn't "come join us as a symphony of voices will make us strong", it wasn't about dissenting opinions toward a common goal, they wanted more of a tightly-orchestrated monotone Gregorian chant where if you didn't act as a good little soldier, you were of no use and will be marginalized at all cost. And there were certainly a number of "executions" on a number of levels.
We're at the other end of that attitude where we have a drive for alternate representation at SouthernJets and DALPA leadership has been making wide, categorical change in part because everyone's absolutely fed up and tired of business as usual. Remember, many of the people running the DPA drive are people who were in elected positions that were sent to the guillotine during administration changes because they wouldn't fall into line.
You "nip it in the bud" not with some of the attitudes of "I know better than you" displayed in this thread and in many LEC meetings around "alpa.Byzantium", you nip it in the bud with engagement. If engagement is too hard, or maddening, it's probably time to sink back into the folds of the seniority list.
Personally, I know that if someone suggested we sit down and listen because we're only mere mortals, as if it was 2003 at DALPA, there would be a recall effort that afternoon in our current environment.
I am not a DPA person, don't get me wrong, but the threat is real and that fire is being fed by some of the same tactics used on the American Eagle pilots from those that claim to know what's best.
Last October someone at DALPA gave me a "shut up, I know better" at a PUB event, in light of what's going on with our pilot group,
that person got sent back to the line and is no longer in his position.
We cannot afford that attitude anymore nor will our pilots in 2014 tolerate it.
Be careful. I beg you.