My Picks for President and VP
The good news is that we have some good people running for USAPA leadership positions. In several positions, I have had a difficult time deciding who I would support. But only one person can win each position and I think we need to have the best people in those positions. weo can not split our votes and I feel these men are the strongest people we can run.
The bad news is we have some bad people also running for USAPA leadership and it's easy for me to explain why.
When it comes to President, I believe we need a strong leader. Someone that can keep the politics that some bring to the body in check and remind these people that they are here to do the pilots business. There will still be many factions that want to control this union. The west, the Compass Correction people, even the company.
The President must be strong enough to not allow any one group from taking over. There is growing pressure from some quarters that we need to give in on some issues just to get a contract. The problem with that is those issues are of paramount importance to the majority of pilots and giving in just to get a contract may work for the most senior people, but for the rest would spell economic doom for the rest of our careers.
We need a President that will always look out for your money since that money is hard earned and dear to us. He needs to understand the issues, the court battles and the needs of the pilots he will represent, especially the east pilots. Someone that has already proven to be a strong pilot advocate.
Most pilots tell me they are tired of the politics in the union. Sorry. But that is unfortunately how a democracy works. Everyone has an opinion and many have their own agenda that may not be your agenda. We need leadership that can keep the politics to a minimum but still look out for you.
Let's face it. If you have been paying attention, you know that most of the problems that the last leadership had, came from one quarter, the Compass Correction people with the help if some people now running. Anyone that is President and is looking out for the majority of pilots will either take his orders from the Compass Correction people or will feels their wrath. They aren't going away just because Mike Cleary or Randy Mowery are not here. The next President and VP, if they are honestly looking out for the majority of pilots will have to deal with them too.
Bill Mckee is my choice for President. Bill has represented the Charlotte pilots in an outstanding manner. He understands the issues we face, has been at the forefront of protecting our seniority rights on the BPR, the CLT pilots and the east as a whole and will look for the very best committee candidates.
Bill was one of the founders of USAPA. He helped write the USAPA Constitution and By-laws and so has great clarity in what the pilots want and need. People that work with Bill will tell you that his no nonsense approach to how he represents the Charlotte pilots is a credit to the BPR and we would be in a much stronger position if we had 8 reps like him. Right now we only have 5. Bill continues to be a great pilot advocate and would be an asset as President
Jamie Javurek for Vice President. Jamie was also one of the original founders of the movement that would become USAPA, even before it had a name. When it came time to write the USAPA by-laws and Constitution, Jamie Javurek and Bill Mckee were given the task. They did a superb job of looking at other unions by-laws and constitutions and took the best of them to give us a set of laws and guidelines that work for this pilot group.
Gone are the days when 4 men can decide on a contract for the union. Gone are the days when a majority of reps can give away billions of dollars in pilot compensation, work rules and retirement without so much as a vote.
Gone are the days when we would pay our dues to a large union and get back pennies on the dollars while they used our dues to live lavish lifestyles and support political candidates so they can receive payback jobs later. That is all thanks to people like Bill and Jamie.
Today we have a union that has protected our seniority, fought off a multitude of attacks from the company and people that would hurt this pilot group for their own political gains and will continue to protect the rights of the line pilot from management, government and the possibility of other merger unions.
Jamie understands the complexity of running a multi-million dollar business that is USAPA, the contracts we have to sign, the legal obstacles we face. I don't know about you, but reading some of these pleadings in court and court decisions can be mind boggling. Jamie is up to the task.
Jamie has worked tirelessly behind the scenes from the beginning and at his own expense for this pilot union. Because most people don't know the extent of the work he has done, it proves he has no ego. Instead of using up flight pay loss on some committee, he has used his own time and money to make this a better union and a better place to work.
He has no prior affiliations to any other past officers and can be counted on to be objective. Because of that, I believe he will take no orders from anyone but you the pilots and the BPR unlike some of his opponents.
But ask anyone that was there in the beginning of USAPA who the most dedicated people were and Jamie's name is first on that list.
I will give you my opinion on the Executive Vice President and Sec-Treasurer in my next letter.
So who would I absolutely think would be a disaster for this pilot group? Two men are running as a slate Gary Hummel and Steve Bradford.
Gary Hummel, by his own admission is working with the west. Gary can best be described as naive if he thinks that his buddies out there are all about working together to find a solution to our problems and he can leave aside the seniority battles to the courts. The battle between the east and west can never be won by giving up. They won't and we had better not. But somehow, Gary thinks he has made enough friends out there that everything else is forgiven. The west wants USAPA gone, destroyed, a bad memory and will not stop at anything to make it happen.
Does any rational person believe that when Eric Ferguson votes on an issue, he is thinking , 'how can I help the east pilots?' But it seems that Gary believes he does or at least Gary can convince him to.
Gary has been extremely divisive and has created an atmosphere of distrust and disunity as the EVP. He has has secret meetings with the west, has caucused with the west reps against the current leadership and has done whatever he can to undermine this leadership and BPR members he does not agree with. Placing him in charge would be a recipe for disaster. Thanks to his past behavior, USAPA has been weaken in many respects and could only get worse if he was placed in charge.
He is great buddies with Eric Ferguson, the head of Leonidas. The man that used our stolen identities, has spent millions to take jobs and seniority away from us, has vowed to destroy USAPA and will do whatever it takes to win. This is who Gary caucuses with.
Since Gary has created a template for how a EVP or other officer operates behind the backs of the leadership, why would the next VP or EVP or Sec-Treasurer not also work to undermine the leaders. When you live by the sword, you die by the sword and Gary has had his sword in hand from the first day in office. In fact, he has been running for President all along by making deals with the west, compass correction people and Bradford and Lee Seham. But he wants us all to believe that once he is installed as President, he will change and work to unite us all. In the words of great philosophers, Bull ####!
If you have finished painting your toe nails and need to get some sleep, by all means watch Steve Bradford's video. It will put you to sleep faster than 4 large scotches and an overdose of Sominex.
Steve is running against Mike Cleary and Randy Mowery. The problem is, they are not running again. He spends so much time in his video complaining about Mike and Randy, that he has little time telling you what he would do instead. There is a reason for that.
Steve was the interim President of USAPA and those that were there will tell you he was a disaster and not an administrator. He negotiated contracts with companies that had they been enacted would have bankrupt USAPA. The west DFR claims.....they have Steve Bradford written all over it with comments he made in the past and will now use against us.
Obviously from his video he blames USAPA for the fact that pilots wore yellow lanyards and decided they had enough of the company pushing us around. I guess he didn't wear a lanyard and was never on board. Good union man that he is.
Remember, when USAPA commissioned the Safety Survey and Report and gave it's findings to the company, did they work with us on fixing those problems or did they tell us is was a scam and refused to entertain that this place has deep seated problems?
The pilot showed by wearing those lanyards that they are fed up with how this company operates on the backs of the employees without proper compensation or care and were more than happy to show the company they are near the end of their patience. Did forcing us to give up the lanyards, firing a few pilots to scare others, removing the CLT Chief Pilots and threatening the union fix those problems? Steve makes it all sound like it was the union's fault that the company was forced to go to court. And he wants to be your leader.
Then he goes on to place his full support behind attorney Lee Seham. This in spite of the fact Seham has refused to release billing records to USAPA. I suppose Seham is waiting and hoping the Hummel and Bradford get elected to let him off the hook. Then all it would take is the 3 west reps along with the 2 DCA Reps and Jamie Weidner in PHL to vote to stop the audit and Seham can once again bill us anything he wants and we'll pay. What a great scam. Hey, it's only your dues we are talking about. It's not like you don't have money to burn....you rich airline pilots.
When USAPA's present leadership realized that something was wrong with the billing we were receiving from Seham, they asked for a BPR vote to get an outside audit. The BPR voted when they saw the evidence that Mike presented and retained an objective forensic accountant. That firm has found Seham to be totally uncooperative and will now have to spend more of our money to find out what happened to millions of dollars we have given Seham. If he had nothing to hide, why not cooperate? Ask Bradford since he is their biggest supporter.
Bradford claims that Seham worked for $125 per hour in the beginning to get our business. Seems like they have more then made up their losses and then some. Bradford is loyal to them because he feels they helped in the beginning. But his loyalty is misplaced if he thinks we should just keep paying without accountability.
Then, when it looked like Seham was going to lose all of his USAPA business, Seham released bogus emails to Gary Hummel in a effort to embarrass Mike and Randy and hopefully head off an audit. Now Hummel and Bradford think these people should be rehired and allowed to continue the past practice of billing us without explaining where or why. This is why Bradford was asked not to run for President last time. He is not an administrator. Would you pay an attorney anything he asks you without an explanation of the costs involved?
These two men have by their own admission worked against the leadership and the best interests of the pilots and they are asking you to place them in the highest position as a reward.
Untrustworthiness and incompetence. This is what they bring to the table. But they have formidable backing. The west and the compass correction people. Seems like a match made in heaven .....or hell.
Before you vote, think about this. We on the east need people that are looking out for the east. We are the majority and with the most to loose. Those that think they are here to represent all of the pilots can not. The west pilots will not be voting for people that they think will represent all of us equally. They will vote for people they think will help their cause. Until or if this seniority situation is ever settled, we need people that will fight with the same passion you feel about your seniority and this contract. Anything less and we give advantage to the west and the company.
This is just the first of several emails on this subject. It's important so please tell others if you feel like I do. We can't split our vote. Some in the east will vote for Gary because he is their best chance to get what they want, the west will vote for him because he is so willing to compromise our ideals but the majority here on the east need to vote for people that have you and only you in mind when they work for this union.
, MM!
