Posted on 06/01/2004 1:12:11 PM PDT by IFly4Him
WASHINGTON, D.C.---The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA), the union that represents most of the nation’s airline pilots, has endorsed John Kerry for president. The union’s Executive Board voted unanimously to endorse the presumptive Democratic nominee at a meeting today in Washington.
"The evidence is clear that President Bush’s record adds up to an unending string of actions that have hurt pilots, other working Americans, and the unions that represent them. It is time for a change," said Capt. Duane E. Woerth, president of ALPA, after the vote was announced. Reached on the campaign trail, Senator Kerry placed a call to the pilots, thanking them for their endorsement.
The vote came after Senator Kerry had written a letter asking the Association for its endorsement. In his letter, Kerry pointed to his long history of supporting issues of importance to airline pilots and to organized labor, including direct aid and loan guarantees to airlines after the Sept. 11 attacks, a measure to elevate cargo security and passenger screening, the program to train and arm airline pilots, "whistleblower" protections for airline employees, banning permanent replacement workers in strikes, and opposition to proposals for "baseball style" binding arbitration in contract negotiations. Kerry also pledged to oppose the outsourcing of jobs for U.S. airline workers through cabotage, and to fight efforts to increase limits on foreign ownership of U.S. carriers.
"John Kerry is the right choice for U.S. pilots – not just because of his commitment to protect our profession, but also because he has a plan to restore our industry’s and the nation’s economic health," Woerth said.
In weighing the record of the Bush administration, the Executive Board noted that its strong anti-union policy has produced a lengthy list of actions and policies that directly harm pilots, their livelihood, and their profession.
These include a policy that bankruptcies and liquidations are the answer to the industry’s problems, a "no strike" policy for airlines through threats to invoke Presidential Emergency Boards, opposition to arming pilots, opposition to legislation to provide pension relief, proposing $435 million in additional airline security taxes, implementing a new rule that requires FAA to immediately revoke the license of pilots who are deemed a "security risk" without specifying the nature of the risk, imposition of extremely burdensome reporting rules for unions, the banning of union representation for TSA employees and many workers at the Department of Homeland Security, and the loss of three million private-sector jobs with scant effort to provide new jobs or relief for affected workers.
In the Executive Board resolution for the endorsement, ALPA noted that Kerry "has steadfastly supported the labor movement, including ALPA, throughout his 20 years in the United States Senate" and "has a long record of support for ALPA and our members, as professional airline pilots, going back to the final days of Eastern Airlines when he voted to establish a Blue Ribbon Panel to review the Eastern situation."
The resolution also cited Kerry’s combat service in Vietnam, his determination to "lead the fight to make creating good paying jobs in the United States our number one national priority," that he "is committed to making affordable health care a right and not a privilege," his promise to "ensure that trade agreements are fair to workers here at home and fair to workers around the world" and his vote to "protect workers’ overtime rights from the Bush Administration’s assault on the Fair Labor Standards Act that would cost 8 million workers their overtime pay."
ALPA’s Executive Board is made up of the top local union leaders (Master Executive Council chairmen) from each of ALPA’s 42 pilot groups. ALPA, the world’s oldest and largest pilot union, represents 64,000 airline pilots at 42 airlines in the U.S. and Canada. Its Web site is www.alpa.org.
That means we can stop asking for armed pilots.
It also means we can stop flying.
Yeah...WHAT evidence, hmm?
Well, Kerry's got the socialist union leadership whores on board. Big surprise.
And that plan would be?
Non-existent, I'm guessing.
Jimmy Carter had a plan,too.
Iamgine, many of these folks flew in the military. What happens to them when the jump into the uniform of a civilian airline?
This doesn't make any sense.
I reckon it's time to begin taking the train!
another union pisses in their own wheaties...sheesh.
The Capt.
"Another union that is predominantly out-of-step with its members political leanings...."
Very true. That the union bosses endorse any candidate means little. The union members couldn't care less what the bosses think.
Clearly, ALPA hired the DNC to write the release....
Ask the four pilots on 9/11/01 how Clinton's and Gore's policies worked out for airline security.
Then, why don't they vote them out???????
The unions in this country are still stuck in a 1950s mentality, i.e., they still feel that they have tremendous clout and influence over the all the workers in the country.
They still do not realize that outside of their own bubble, many workers are not impressed and are actually turned off by the union movementin today's America.
Cabotage. Brand new word to me. I looked it up in the dictionary and I still don't know what it means.
Amen to stop flying!
And people want to ARM these dumbasses. I don't want them anywhere near a gun.
I don't understand either. I know a lot of these guys - they are torn between their personal beliefs and a hatred for management (which really sucks at a lot of these companies). Some of them are afraid of workplace retribution (I don't mean physical). I think they should do something about it, but they're afraid of losing money.
Have the perfect example of that here in Oklahoma. We had a Right to Work campaign and the leftist union thugs from the East Coast came in the State in droves financed by the Clintonites back East. Our local effort on Right to Work was funded by Oklahomans for the most part.
We passed Right to Work and the precincts around the GM plant in Midwest City voted for Right to Work which made the unions furious. After several court challenges Right to Work is now a fact in OKC.
The GM union bosses decided to get one of their own in the State Legislature so they targeted a guy in the RAT primary that voted for putting Right to Work on the ballot. Their stooge won the primary but lost big time in the regular election to a Republican -- first time a Republican held that seat.
Union bosses are on a total different page from a lot of members today for which we can be grateful.
As far as I am concerned, the Airline Pilots Association and the airline lobbyiest, Daschle's wife, can all go stuff it -- they made their choice when they elected this leadership so I say no more Government bailouts for the unions.
Are Southwest Airlines employees members of the union? Reason I ask is that SW never seems to appear on searches for airline flights.
ALPA's Communications Department provides information and support for news media inquiries. An ALPA communications representative can be reached in the Herndon, Va. office at (703) 689-2270. Our mailing address is 535 Herndon Parkway, Herndon, Virginia, 20170.
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