By signing a card, you are authorizing AA Pilots for ALPA to petition the National Mediation Board (NMB) to conduct a secret ballot representation election. When we receive a strong majority (minimum of 50% +1) of cards from American Pilots, we will submit them to the NMB. Any non-management pilot, to include those on probation, LTD, or leaves of absence, are eligible to sign and submit a card. The NMB will review the cards for accuracy. The cards are kept confidential and never shared with management or APA.

If the NMB determines the cards are accurate, then they will conduct a secret ballot election to give the American Pilots an opportunity to vote on ALPA representation. The will of the American Pilots who choose to vote will determine the results. If a majority of votes are cast for ALPA representation, ALPA will be certified by the NMB as your exclusive collective bargaining representative under the Railway Labor Act.

A card drive is a “gut renovation” of our representation that brings in the assistance of professionals rather than pilots. If a card drive is successful, then both the name of our union and the names around the table will immediately change.

ALPA will appoint Temporary Local Council Representatives, which will form a Temporary American MEC. ALPA and the Temporary American MEC will then conduct Local Elections for every Local Council so American Pilots choose their leadership.

All unions are not the same. ALPA is significantly more robust in terms of resources and influence. A card drive is a “gut renovation” of our representation that brings in the assistance of professionals rather than pilots. If a card drive is successful, then both the name of our union and the names around the table will immediately change.

ALPA representation will give the American Pilots more control over their union, with non-pilots serving in professional roles and more crosstalk with other pilot groups. Most work done by our in-house union is performed by PILOTS instead of professionals.

By virtue of putting itself on an island from the rest of the profession, our in-house union is ALWAYS the last to know about developments at an ALPA-represented property. Examples include the United AIP immediately after our TA and the announcement of the Northeast Alliance the day 2,500 American Pilots received furlough notices in 2020.

Our pilot group will still be free to chart our own course. ALPA simply provides us the tools to reach our goals in a more efficient manner than our in-house union can. ALPA is a bottom-up trade association that operates on an “Independence Plus” model that is pilot-driven and staff-supported.

ALPA’s Constitution and Bylaws give each pilot group the ability to chart its own course. In the rare event ALPA’s C&B or policies restrict the desires of a pilot group, most restrictions originate from “lessons learned.” As an example, ALPA pilot groups are restricted from signing a “B Scale” contract.

ALPA’s C&B and policies are ultimately owned by the pilots of ALPA. The organization provides a pilot-friendly process to change ALPA starting at a Local Council meeting. Unlike APA, Local Council meetings occur a minimum of once every four months. As one of ALPA’s largest pilot groups, the American Pilots will have substantial influence over changes to ALPA’s governing documents and ALPA policies.

You wouldn't put the cheapest tires you could find on your daughter's car before sending her off to college. The level of representation is everything to the value of your career. A contract is also worthless if not enforced. ALPA has a much better track record of contract enforcement through the grievance process than our in-house union.

The APA-ALPA Merger Exploratory Committee concluded there was significant added value from ALPA representation to the American Pilots due to ALPA’s pooled resources, battle-tested structure, and cross-talk with the rest of the piloting profession. They also concluded this value would be incredibly difficult to replicate with our in-house union.

Bureaucracy equates to accountability. Letting our in-house union operate autonomously has not worked out well for us.

How much longer can your career afford to pay for discount representation? Our in-house union is a sideshow for the rest of the piloting profession, the public, and Washington, DC.

ALPA is a larger organization because it is a true trade union that represents the piloting profession for 42 pilot groups, to the traveling public, and in Washington, DC. The professional resources required to be all three of those things effectively requires a larger and more organized association than an in-house union is capable of providing. The lack of those professional resources are a large contributing factor to why the American Pilots lag their industry peers.   

If a card drive is successful, then both the name of our union and the names around the table will immediately change with ALPA being the only certified pilot union on the AA property. APA will dissolve and return its remaining assets back to their owners: the American Pilots.

ALPA will appoint Temporary Local Council Representatives who will likely be completely different from those serving as APA Domicile and National Officers, which form a Temporary American MEC. ALPA and the Temporary American MEC will then conduct Local Elections for every Local Council so American Pilots choose their leadership.

The benefit of scale enjoyed by ALPA can't be replicated on a smaller scale. Don’t believe us? APA’s own hand-picked Merger Exploratory Committee told our reps this. But APA doesn’t want you to have a vote on this matter.

Replicating APA’s resources would require a significant increase in APA’s dues structure in order to afford the Subject Matter Experts ALPA currently employs at ALPA National, which include lawyers, financial professionals, communications experts, and more.

Even if APA “poached” some of the talent at ALPA after raising our dues substantially, this new talent would not remain nearly as proficient in all areas of the bargaining cycle at an in-house union since they would only be working with us. Additionally, these experts would not be exposed to the crosstalk of fellow ALPA staff members working on other airline cases or governmental agencies, such as the National Mediation Board, because this staff would ONLY serve the American Pilots without private insight into the rest of the industry.

Finally, there are significantly more career opportunities for a staff member working at ALPA than at APA in terms of upward mobility.

Our in-house union just told us that United’s Pilots changed the landscape. Several of our contractual gains in TA 2.0 are contingent on United ratifying their contract. Be sure to thank a United Pilot next time you see them for bringing our contract closer to industry standard.

After the first TA at United last Summer, the membership resoundingly voted it down and subsequently initiated ALPA’s pilot-friendly recall process to change the leadership of their MEC.

The new United MEC leadership polled their pilot group, utilized ALPA National’s resources to create a strategic plan, and executed on that plan to reach an agreement that met or exceeded their pilot group’s expectations within a year of the first TA being voted down.

It is important to note that UAL’s new political leadership DID NOT fire their Negotiating Committee. Some members of the old Negotiating Committee resigned. Instead, the membership held their leaders accountable. The new leaders listened to the will of the membership and changed their strategic course accordingly.

By contrast, APA had six different Negotiating Committee Chairs since the most recent contract negotiation started in January 2019. Additionally, the APA has not updated its Strategic Plan since 2013.

If we join ALPA via a card drive, then APA must return its remaining assets to the American Pilots after its dissolution in accordance with APA’s Constitution and Bylaws. Several of your representatives lied to you in domicile blasts about what would happen to our assets in a merger. If we had MERGED with ALPA, then the merger agreement would have addressed what happens to our assets.

If a Card Drive is successful, then APA will not represent any pilots. They will have to dissolve in accordance with the APA constitution and bylaws and return its remaining assets to the American Pilots.

If we had MERGED with ALPA, then the merger document would have addressed what happens to our assets.

In past mergers into ALPA, all pilots kept their assets for their exclusive use after making an initial contribution to the ALPA MCF. The APA-ALPA Merger Exploratory Committee did not expect the American Pilots to be any different. These initial MCF contributions were a fraction of the pilot group’s total assets. The MCF is used to add horsepower to strike preparation, contract negotiations, contract implementation, and other issues critical to the successful representation of pilots.

After we join ALPA with a card drive, ALPA will hire a staff to serve the American MEC. This staff would have to be interviewed by ALPA. Based on an analysis of prior mergers, if we had MERGED with ALPA, then the staff would likely have all been offered employment at ALPA. Unfortunately, our in-house union showed they could not be trusted to negotiate a merger agreement given their dishonest communications with the membership following their June 1 vote. This leaves a card drive as our pilot group’s only good-faith and legal option to change representation.

This is 100% up to APA.

As in any financial transaction by an organization, APA will have several options available regarding its fiduciary duties. This decision would ultimately rest with APA, who are charged with acting in the best fiduciary interest of their organization and in accordance with their governing documents.

After we elect to go to ALPA through a card drive, APA will be an organization that no longer represents the American pilots. APA will need to dissolve itself in accordance with its Constitution and Bylaws. Part of that dissolution process will require determining how pilots currently in receipt of APA Benefits could continue to be covered.

A negotiated merger between APA and ALPA would likely have preserved these plans, which is exactly what happened for the FedEx Pilots and Air Canada Pilots when each group merged into ALPA. Unfortunately, our in-house union has proven they cannot be trusted to properly execute a merger process with ALPA, which leaves a card card drive as the membership’s only good-faith and legal effort to have their voices heard on this topic.

The APA BOD’s hand-picked Merger Exploratory Committee assessed the downside risk in a seniority integration as an ALPA carrier to be largely the same as it is as an in-house union.

The Merger Exploratory Committee had significant experience with airline seniority integrations. Both of the hired SME’s routinely represented pilot groups (including the Legacy American Pilots in the AA/US Air merger) or stood as expert witnesses regarding seniority integration issues. The Chair, Tom Duncan, was a TWA pilot who was involved with several seniority integration issues after the AA-TWA merger and during the AA-US Air merger. Captain Eric Ferguson was also involved in many issues surrounding seniority integration in both the America West-US Air merger and the AA-US Air merger.

The committee also noted benefits to the collaboration encouraged under ALPA Merger Policy process, including creation of a joint MEC, strategic planning for the collective bargaining cycle, and keeping management out of the intervention process.

Predicting a seniority integration process is a fool’s errand. The APA BOD’s hand-picked Merger Exploratory Committee assessed the downside risk in a seniority integration as an ALPA carrier to be largely the same as it is as an in-house union.

The Merger Exploratory Committee had significant experience with airline seniority integrations. Both of the hired SME’s routinely represented pilot groups (including the Legacy American Pilots in the AA/US Air merger) or stood as expert witnesses regarding seniority integration issues. The Chair, Tom Duncan, was a TWA pilot who was involved with several seniority integration issues after the AA-TWA merger and during the AA-US Air merger. Captain Eric Ferguson was also involved in many issues surrounding seniority integration in both the American West-US Air merger and the AA-US Air merger.

The committee also noted benefits to the collaboration encouraged under ALPA Merger Policy process, including creation of a joint MEC, strategic planning for the collective bargaining cycle, and keeping management out of the intervention process.

ALPA made a mistake. APA has also made several very costly mistakes. One example is the 45 million dollar fine for the Reno Sickout. The question we need to ask ourselves as a pilot group: which of these two unions will provide more value and job protection for our careers moving forward? The American Pilots need to have their voice heard on this critical business decision.

In late 2000, TWA was faced with a potential bankruptcy. American Airlines expressed interest in buying TWA, but management wanted assurance that APA was on board before initiating the transaction. APA requested that AA management make the TWA pilots waive their contractual seniority integration protections before buying TWA. The TWA ALPA MEC then had to make a decision under the threat of an 1113e filing in bankruptcy: risk their future in bankruptcy court or waive seniority protections in the hope that AA would live up to their end of the bargain to provide their reasonable best efforts to provide for a fair and equitable seniority integration.

At the same time, APA had an ALPA Exploratory Committee exchanging information about a potential merger between APA and ALPA. APA’s Exploratory Committee was meeting with ALPA leadership in much the same manner our recent APA-ALPA Merger Exploratory Committee did, but ALPA did not fully disclose this process to the TWA MEC during their decision making process. APA’s ALPA Exploratory Committee project ended in much the same way as the recent APA-ALPA Merger Exploratory Committee process did: the BOD did nothing with the report and elected to not push the topic further.

The AA-TWA seniority integration resulted in a significant number of TWA Pilots “stapled” to the integrated list. After the AA-TWA seniority integration, a group of TWA Pilots sued American Airlines, APA, and ALPA. The lawsuits against AA and APA were thrown out due to having no standing, but the lawsuit against ALPA proceeded. The TWA Pilots argued that ALPA breached its duty to represent them by not fully disclosing the ongoing discussions between APA and ALPA to TWA ALPA’s leadership. A jury found ALPA liable for the DFR. ALPA then settled out of court, and the TWA Pilots in the class action determined how the settlement was divided among themselves.

A group of TWA Pilots and Flight Attendants also lobbied Congress to change the law to memorialize seniority protections under federal law. This lobbying push resulted in the “McCaskill Bond Statute,” which now prevents a situation similar to the AA-TWA integration from happening in a merger again.

Everyone can find something to be unhappy with their union about. Having said that, ALPA has consistently outperformed APA in representing their members. The question we need to ask ourselves as a pilot group: which union will provide more value and job protection for our careers moving forward? The American Pilots need to have their voice heard on this critical business decision.

ALPA does not support scabs. ALPA’s pilots determined it was in the best interests of the piloting profession to employ a process to bring some pilots who crossed picket lines back into ALPA membership.

In the late 1990’s, in an effort to “raise the floor” for all legacy carrier pilot contracts, ALPA’s pilot leadership made an organizational decision to merge as many company unions as possible into ALPA. Many of these company unions had a significant minority of pilots who had previously crossed picket lines. It was determined by both ALPA and company union leadership that the best course of action was to offer representation to all pilots, including those who had crossed picket lines after paying all back dues owed to ALPA. Doing so benefitted both the pilots represented by ALPA and these company unions by “raising the floor” for legacy carrier pilot contracts.