Well I would have to say the stalemate was broken a long time ago my friend when the IACP represented the Continental pilots. Once again management was successful in securing hundreds of RJs operating as Continental Express to provide their feed. So here is a myth that some try to sell about ALPA vs independent that I definitely won't buy.
Prater, alpa leader, was one of the leaders of the IACP, he is a Continental pilot. His resume shows that he does not like to fly anything but a desk on flight pay loss.
""Today, Continental Captain John Prater was elected President of the Association with 24,444 roll call votes. Northwest Captain Duane Woerth received 23,524 votes. This is a short bio for our pilots.
Captain Prater has a long and involved pilot union history. Highlights of his union work include:
-- He was hired by Continental in 1978. Following Frank Lorenzo’s takeover of Continental, he served as the ALPA Guam S/O Rep. He was furloughed in May 1983
-- He was recalled to CAL 23 days prior to Continental's first bankruptcy. He performed nation-wide strike prep picketing work when the pilot group went on strike. He was also elected as the MEC Secretary-Treasurer during the strike.
-- He was appointed ALPA's AFL CIO labor coordinator by ALPA President Hank Duffy. During this time, he worked on developing union support in the fight against Lorenzo and lobbied for a change to bankruptcy law.
-- In 1984, he worked part time at a United Training Center. When United's pilots struck in 1985, he honored the strike and was fired by United.
-- He returned to Continental in 1986. ALPA was no longer on the property, and he was active in ALPA organizing drives in 1989 and 1992.
--Starting in 1994, he served as the IACP's Strike Committee Chairman. In 1996, he was appointed chairman of the effort to merge with ALPA.
-- In 1998, he was elected as Vice President of the IACP. In 2001, following the merger with ALPA, he was elected the MEC Vice Chairman. In 2002, Prater was elected to serve as MEC Chairman.
--In 2003, he went back to flying the line full time and then joined the B-787 Aircraft Development Group.
--He currently serves of the chairman of the Continental MEC's Negotiating Committee.
he has experienced a total of five airline bankruptcies, three strikes, and numerous furloughs.
--His four-year term is effective January 1, 2007.""
Captain Prater's website,
http://www.johnprater2006.com/index-1.html, has more information.