Critical thinking.

We often find ourselves criticizing our representative body, ALPA. Many of us have felt it has not reflected our wishes or represented our needs for many years. Yet we still (most of us) continue to wear the pin. Why?
A demonstration of unity in the face of an adversary is the most logical reason. Fear of being ostracized is another. But we continue to accept, in the face of overwhelming evidence, that our union is doing its best and has our best interests at heart.
Why?
"It's beyond my pay grade".  "You gotta believe in SOMEBODY"  are the platitudes I get handed. They don't wash. I'm sorry.
There is a real, fervent, military style mindset of "Don't dissent/follow orders/stick together" that deters people from asking the difficult questions, of demanding the appropriate action. It is, I think, a product of long term crisis management being the status quo. It works well under fire. In situations where there is no time to think, only react, and survival is at stake, it is the ONLY way to operate. But when strategy is being contemplated, and long term effects being considered, it is absolutely the wrong approach. For those of you who have been front line commanders in battle this is a major shift in mindset. For those of you who have not, this is simply a time to look inside yourself and make decisions you can live with personally. They may be decisions that do not conform to the prepared voice of the union, but that should not stop you.
What's the harm in treating it as a conflict situation all the time? The answer is wrong conclusions can be drawn, and irreparable damage done.
e.g. You are in a bad neighbour hood, at night. You are armed. A figure appears around the corner pointing a gun at you. You fire your weapon and kill the assailant.  In a second scenario it is daylight and you have some cover when you see the figure 'rounding the corner. You have time to assess the situation. The figure turns out to be a child with a toy gun. A very different conclusion, and one that is much preferable to the first. But you acted out of a crisis management mindset and did absolutely the wrong thing in the first case. That's what we are doing now.
I walked the picket line at Eastern in 1989 for many, many months and believed myself and my fellow picketers brave, while the scabs were cowards. Little did I realize at the time that there were many people who crossed that line that did not do it out of the much touted self-serving, weak, opportunistic failings that ALPA members claimed, but did it out of conviction in their beliefs. Conviction that required far more bravery than I was displaying.
But this required a degree of individuality. Of critical thinking. The potential is obvious and explains ALPA's antipathy toward it. It weakens the union's stance if we don't stick together. We are at war. We must hold the line. Newsflash: we ARE NOT AT WAR. But to behave like we are grants our handlers the power to exercise their will over us, while we stand by and follow the orders. Charge the cannon when told.
Sorry but if I'm going down in flames I am doing it for a damned good reason. One that I can validate. And that means my representatives must explain themselves to my satisfaction. They do NOT issue orders. They are NOT my commanding officers.
So to my mind, the wearing of the pin is to acquiesce to the commands of individuals who fail to fully explain themselves or their motives. It is to grant them the power to inflict harm on me. It is to demonstrate belonging to a group that has demonstrated time and again that its goals are not mine, it is to hope for the best and keep my head down. It is to vehemently disagree and remain silent. It is to be a hypocrite.
The other side of the coin is that it is management that is trying to squeeze every last drop out of us until we croak, or become replaceable..........something that our ALPA reps are doing nothing to prevent, as every day we buy into an easier, more automated cockpit, we become more replaceable. Every day we demand non competitive wages for flying small airplanes, we encourage management to outsource, and we become more replaceable.
It's obvious from this state of affairs that there is a real possibilty for a stalemate. What do you do? Whom do you trust?
The answer lies in the motivating forces which are plain for all to see. It just takes a little effort, and a little humility. There is a win-win situation, as well as a win-lose, as well as a lose-lose.
Win-win: speedy signing giving management SOME extra profitabilty potential and us SOME extra pay.
Win-lose: One side gets all. Either we work for peanuts or the company goes broke.
Lose-lose: Strike. Bankruptcy. Furlough. Shrinkage. New careers at Home Depot.
This is not an advocacy of succumbing to every management wish. The ones to be seriously considered are the wishes they have that will promote more competitiveness, expansion and profits.
Remember: Expansion ALWAYS trumps attrition when it comes to forward advancement. The greatest pay raise all you first officers will ever get is when you move to the left seat. Many of you have been let down so badly, for so long, by our past management culture, that you can conceive of no other state of affairs than the present stasis. Forward movement seems simply a pipe dream, and that all management wants to do is replace you. I believe this was true. During '03 I believed that we would be lucky to see another five years. Management was making exactly the same mistakes that got us into bankruptcy, their arrogance and utter belief in infallibility was unmitigated. Tilton, having done a stellar job of reworking the company's finances at the outset became a believer in the "part-it-out-and-trade-the-assets" philosophy that has prevailed at United since the early 90s. He joined the club that has never had a long term viable view of this company. The operation was a shell game. We, the workers, were on borrowed time.
I do not believe the much maligned present CEO and his staff are of the same mindset. They may be chiselers. They may not have worker well being at the top of their list (although given the animosity they face it's not surprising), but I believe they WANT to run a company. To expand and grow by generating profits. That means you have a future and will see forward movement.
Unless you screw it up by buying into the stalemate situation your union is selling. That will result in a strike, furloughs, shrinkage, and you looking for a new career in an ever tougher job marketplace.
Yes, we are working under a post bankruptcy set of work rules and we want things to be restored to pre-bankruptcy conditions. But the economy, the market, the job front, are all vastly different than they were in 1999. They are all much worse and it must be realized in order for a realistic, achievable contract to be signed.