Oct. 7, 1999
Just in the last few
weeks we’ve had outstanding work from some of these committees:
Professional
Standards
Joe Sottile is the chairman here – and this is another one which operates out of the
limelight. I can tell you they do a lot — they stay busy.
Retirement
and Insurance
This week Joe Heil and John McIlvenna spent many hours with our management working the
many problems that fall out there.
This is all in the last
two weeks — and I’ve left a lot of people out. If you really want to help, the next time
you see one of these guys say, “Thanks, Mark.” “Thanks, Tom.” Thanks
to all of you for a job well done.
I’ve been a
professional pilot for almost 32 years and my judgment is that this article hits the nail
right on the head. Let me read you the topic sentences:
1. Airline pilots like
to get it done.
2. Most pilots are
middle class and college educated.
3. The majority of
airline pilots are, in their hearts, free enterprise advocates who know capitalism built
America . . . and now wonder what they’re doing in a labor union.
4. We are trained,
trained, and trained some more to follow authority; and we are slapped, slapped and
slapped some more for questioning or deviating from it.
5. Pilots cling to
certainty and avoid uncertainty.
In many ways these are
fine qualities. We won’t ask you to alter your personalities. Just recognize things
about yourself that might keep you from doing what you must do to be part of an effective
negotiation. I hope I have stimulated your curiosity, go on and read or re-read this
article for the good of us all.
ALPA is, in part, a
political clubhouse. It’s your forum, the place where you get to exchange views and
ventilate feelings. But it’s far more. ALPA is a full time, goal directed service
organization. ALPA is volunteers, staff and leaders serving pilots in order to sustain and
improve our profession. When you think about the volunteers I discussed tonight, and then
you listen to negativism and complaints from a few — ask yourself –who do you believe
in?
That’s it for tonight. I’ll
be at the Northwest MEC meeting next week — one of our MEC officers will be back next
Thursday on this hotline.
- Committee volunteer work
- Things about you that can hurt
us - What ALPA is
Accident
Investigation
The 757 false GPWS accident (the “agua caliente” accident) was investigated by
NTSB, and they appointed ALPA as an official party to the investigation. Our Chief
Accident Investigator, Mark Solper, and our other investigators Jay Prochnow, Ken Wood,
and Doug Gauntt were praised by the Investigator-In-Charge as having done some of the best
work they had seen by an ALPA team. When I was in Herndon this week I spoke with our
Safety staffer who was on the case; he showed me Mark’s report. He said it was one of the
best he had ever seen done by an ALPA volunteer. National ALPA kicked in a lot of the
funds to pay for our part in this.
Safety
Terry Stadler has spent a huge amount of his time in recent weeks gathering information
and planning strategy to deal with the likelihood of increased bird strikes near the Rio
Salado project. He has talked to anyone and everyone connected with approving this project
as well as our National staffers, AW management, FAA and wildlife experts. He’s going to
be telling you more about this in the near future.
PBS
Del Brummet and David Weeks have been working overtime to develop a manual and classes for
PBS. David spent time with Ad Opt in Montreal getting ready and Del spent time
coordinating with the company. America West is funding a lot of their work right now, as
they should.
Family
Awareness
Frank Helton personally stuffed all the mailboxes with flyers reminding you about the
October 13 picnic.
HIMS
Chris Behl leads a group whose efforts are always confidential. These volunteers are some
of the best trained and best qualified in the industry. They are so good that they are a
model. Several other airlines have asked Chris to help them set up similar programs. They
do a huge amount of work – pro bono.Merger
Fund
Did you ever think to ask who manages that fund? Say thanks to Marc Miller. He’s sharp,
he’s honest, and he does it pro bono.System
Board
Bill Goin and Tom Nehez have spent hours for weeks and weeks planning and pursuing the Ed
Sherman arbitration. One night I left the ALPA office at 6:30 and Tom was still spread out
all over the conference room with documents and arguments pasted up on the walls. This
type of arbitration takes immense effort and concentration – and these guys do it
almost all on their own time.
| MEC Hotline | ||
| This is MEC Chairman Roger Cox. It’s October 7th, and this is the weekly MEC hotline. Most Thursday nights my intent on this hotline is just to inform. I give you meeting dates and briefly discuss current issues. Every now and then I need to break the mold and speak from the heart. Tonight is one of those nights. My topics are: Committee Things What
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