Leadership From the Flight Deck
70 Results for Category Safety
Worldwide, one of the biggest threats to the aviation system are atypical employment models, such as the ones being used by Ryanair in several countries in Europe. Employers—through a variety of schemes—use atypical employment to dissolve their direct relationship with their pilots and cabin crews. These arrangements, which may include misclassifying pilots as self-employed or independent contractors, are meant to undermine the right to collectively bargain and otherwise dismantle the traditional employee-employer relationship related to pay, benefits, and working conditions
Eighty-eight years ago on July 27, 24 “Key Men” led by Capt. Dave Behncke, founded the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). During the early days of air travel, pilots lacked many basic safety provisions. Capt. Behncke, ALPA’s first president, had the foresight to bring pilots together with one goal: to advance aviation safety—and that goal remains the core of our mission today.
Last week, ALPA hosted its 65th Air Safety Forum in Washington, D.C., with three days of private Air Safety Organization (ASO) committee, council, and group meetings followed by a full-day public session with speeches, in-depth discussions, and the annual awards banquet.
ALPA's president, Capt. Joe DePete, welcomed attendees to the Forum and highlighted the Association's history: "Learning from the danger that early aviators faced, airline pilots have helped lead North America to safer skies today." There has been loss along the way, unfortunately, but "we've turned pain into progress." And that progress continues. DePete reviewed an impressive list of successes ALPA has achieved and to ALPA's volunteers he said, "Thanks to you, humankind is and will forever be changed."
Bringing together pilot subject-matter experts, industry personnel, and government officials, the Air Safety Forum provides an essential step toward the successes of tomorrow—with casual conversations often sparking the first light of a solution. All told, the week epitomizes what Capt. Bob Fox, ALPA first vice president and national safety coordinator, referred to as "winning through collaboration."
Yesterday, bipartisan legislation was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives that, if passed, would defend U.S. trade deals, promote fair competition for U.S. airlines, and protect the jobs of airline pilots and other airline workers in the United States.
On June 5, nearly 200 ALPA members from 38 states conducted hundreds of meetings with members of Congress to press these decision makers to support pilot-partisan issues. This boots-on-the-ground effort known as “Hill Day” wrapped up ALPA’s seventh annual Legislative Summit on Capitol Hill.