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A message from ALPA’s Volume
2, Number 2 |
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A message from ALPA’s Volume
2, Number 2 |
Behncke’s Singular Vision
In this issue of Heads Up, I wanted to provide the perspective of some of your peers. A great deal of frank and open discussion took place over many months prior to the Board vote, among ALPA’s officers, MEC officers, ALPA committee chairmen, and other pilot leaders. This was by design. Our purpose was to gauge their support for moving forward in these latest discussions with the pilots at Continental, and to provide the widest sounding board possible before committing Association resources to pursuing a merger with IACP or any of the other independent unions. Almost universally, the pilots we talked to recognized the million-dollar question facing us: In an industry that appears to be moving toward consolidation (or, at least, seamlessness), can we, as pilots, risk remaining divided? You’ve heard that advertising slogan, "It’s not your father’s Oldsmobile?" Well, ladies and gentlemen, it’s not your father’s industry any longer. Seemingly every week, the trade papers and the rumor mills churn out another report of a new code-share, an alliance partner change, a potential merger. Dave Behncke, ALPA’s first president, couldn’t have envisioned the complex turns the industry has taken, but he saw one thing with dead-on accuracy: the need for one union. He had the wisdom to recognize the reality of the business: that, in the final analysis, every pilot’s fortune is bound inextricably to every other’s. And that’s truer today than it has ever been before. With the industry-leading contract recently won at United, and an even stronger contract anticipated at Delta, ALPA has re-established pattern bargaining in the industry in a manner that promises to raise the standard for all pilot contracts. I expect that the current Comair negotiations will yield an industry-leading contract among the express pilots. Continental and Continental Express pilots are facing critical negotiations for their own contracts, which are amendable in 2002. It’s in all of our best interests — mainline and express pilots alike — to bring these pilots into the fold, provide them with ALPA’s world-class resources and negotiating expertise, and help them further raise the standards for pilot contracts. continued... |
 Statements of
Support from:
• Capt. Rick Dubinsky,Chairman, United MEC • Capt. Matt Kernan, • Capt. Charles S. Giambusso, The following was signed at ALPA’s 38th regular Board of Directors Meeting in October. e, the undersigned former Eastern Airlines and Continental Airlines pilots, in attendance at this meeting as delegates and committee members, applaud the historic action taken here today. The courageous and forward-looking members of this body have begun the process of welcoming the Continental pilots back into ALPA, and we wish to raise our voices in wholehearted support.
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In my November 2 letter to you, ALPA’s
members, I promised to provide additional background on the BOD resolution and some of the
thinking that went into the decision to proceed with our merger discussions with the
Independent Association of Continental Pilots (IACP).