THE PLAN
Re-engage Revitalize Realize
These are the Pilots for Change three foundational Rs for making our vision a reality. Nearly every pilot who completed our most recent survey took the time to provide feedback during the free-script opportunity. After reviewing your feedback we want to address the main recurring theme.
The most common question was HOW? How is Pilots for Change going to actually change things within our association?
First of all, we should clarify the difference between what we can do as a grassroots group run purely on volunteer pilot power, versus what we will be able to do as representatives within your actual union. Think about our website, social media presence, newsletters, surveys and educational videos! This has all been driven purely by volunteer pilots - every day line pilots - just like you. Imagine now those same people, who are extremely motivated to change our association, working to represent you within our union. How exciting is that future?
When our current and future hard working volunteers are given the tools that ACPA has at its disposal - we’ll all have the union we actually deserve! A guiding principal at Pilots for Change is striving to act like the union that we want. That union adheres to our six core elements of change; culture, knowledge, engagement, accountability, community and professional pride. We will use our six core elements to Re-engage our pilot group, Revitalize our union and Realize our value as professionals.
Once our movement reaches a critical mass and we are able to affect the outcome of votes on the MEC we will truly be able to enact change within our association. Then we can begin with the following motions and actions:
Furlough emails - our furloughed pilots will continue to receive communications from our association unless they choose to opt out.
Recorded votes - our membership needs to know how our elected representatives vote on issues around the MEC table. The results from our survey #1 emphasizes this fact with 90.9% of pilots who responded saying “Yes” they do support recorded votes by the MEC.
Meeting minutes or agendas - our membership should have easy access to minutes from MEC meetings in a digital form.
Contract comparisons (Revisit TA1 V2.0 surveys) - knowledge is power and our pilot group should know what other pilot groups have in their contracts versus what is and isn’t in ours.
Catalogue and embrace our failures - failure is one of our greatest learning opportunities. As an association, we need to dig deep into our past and learn from our mistakes. Our recent past is very similar to the past of our fellow colleagues at United Airlines and look where their contract is today in comparison to ours. If you have not read “From Wooden Wings” by Patrick Palazzolo - it is well worth your time.
Study our current committee structure and revitalize communications between committees and the MEC. Re-invite former committee members to work within ACPA once again, but under new leadership with a defined strategic plan .
Communicate effectively - communication is paramount. Through timely, relevant and effective communication our pilot group will re-engage.
Local Council Meetings - we need to start having them again!
Re-engage on the Unity file - a lot of work was completed on the unity file a few years ago. With the potential Transat merger in the rearview mirror we must now recommit to the unity file. Practically speaking, this means completing an exhaustive investigation on all of our representation options and presenting this information to our members. In the past the answer was ALPA - we must reeducate ourselves on this file and if ALPA is still the best representation option all of our pilots must be given the opportunity to become fully educated on why; Then a membership wide vote must occur.
Protect and Defend the contract. This is the primary job of a pilot union. We have to educate pilots on our contract so they know when it is being violated. Our first line of defence is an educated line pilot. Many pilots groups excel at this - for example SWAPA puts out regular contract minute informational videos.
Prepare, prepare, and prepare for negotiations! Our contract will be open before we know it. We must be fully prepared for this and that preparation needed to start yesterday. It is time to stop being a reactive association - we need to learn how to be proactive.
This is the PLAN - this is how we will Re-engage our pilots , Revitalize our union and Realize our value as a professional pilot group.
Survey #2 Results
With election season in full swing now we have closed survey #2.
Thank you for taking the time to complete it. It has assisted our candidates and organizers greatly!
Below are the results from the survey:
A score of 1 meant Not Familiar with a score of 5 meaning Very Familiar.
A score of 1 meant Not Familiar with a score of 5 meaning Very Familiar.
A score of 1 meant Not Comfortable with a score of 5 meaning Very Comfortable.
A few closing words from our NEM candidates:
“As the lowest paid, hardest worked legacy pilots in North America, it is time for us to understand our worth, and fight for our profession. It is time to pursue real, significant, long-term gains for our group.” - Jon Gabbert
“We must defend and uphold our Collective Agreement – contract enforcement requires continuous membership education and engagement.” - Jesse Jantzi
“A union is only as strong as its members and our pilots need to be informed and engaged to remain confident and strong. We need more engagement at the local level accomplished by having a minimum of four LEC membership meetings scheduled each year.” - Cam Soderberg
Vote for Change!
If you have not logged onto the ACPA website and voted for change yet - what are you waiting for? After you have voted for change, please make sure you ask your fellow colleagues to do the same. Thank you for staying engaged in our Profession!
VOTE NOW: https://acpilots.simplyvoting.com/
This is Your Union and Your Voice does matter.