Saluting Our Unity
By Capt. Jason Ambrosi, ALPA President
Our unity is a fundamental tool to improving our careers not just in our work with our companies, but also in our constant advocacy before regulators and lawmakers in Washington, D.C., and Ottawa. By speaking with one voice, we’ve ensured that regulators and our elected leaders listen to us. Our advocacy has saved the lives of passengers, crews, and people on the ground, as well as billions of dollars in potential damage to aircraft and cargo.
As this magazine goes to print, we’re celebrating another landmark achievement of our unity with Congress passing the FAA reauthorization bill. ALPA was successful in advocating for several key provisions within the bill to make aviation even safer. Determined to maintain our position as the world leader in aviation safety and security, we fought and won an uphill battle against well-connected and well-funded special interests that desperately, and predictably, put profit over safety.
Together, we’ve demonstrated that the challenges our industry faces should never be solved by rolling back safety standards. ALPA pilots, friends, family, and members of the public took nearly 262,000 actions to urge their members of Congress to support ALPA’s safety provisions and standards. Maintaining these proven, lifesaving standards is why the flying public trusts their lives to us every time they board our aircraft. However, passing the FAA reauthorization only marks a transition in our work. We must ensure that the law’s implementation is carried out with the safety-first spirit that was intended.
As a union, we have deep roots in a culture of safety. And through our work, we’re constantly striving to adapt to improve the health and safety of our members on and off the job. We’re adapting to the rise in threats due to violent passengers on our flights, and in the FAA reauthorization bill, we secured a pathway for mandating secondary flight deck barriers on existing airliners to better protect our crews. Last year, we succeeded in our efforts to have these barriers installed on new aircraft after years of advocating for this commonsense security measure following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
When something goes wrong in flight, we know that the most important safety feature on any airliner is having at least two pilots on the flight deck, and as part of our safety commitment, we must ensure that pilots are supported.
In recognition of May being Mental Health Month, ALPA has launched the “Are You in the Green?” campaign to encourage our members to pay attention to the mental health of our peers, our families, and ourselves. The campaign is based on a question every pilot should ask themself each time they step onto the flight deck: Are you mentally healthy and ready to fly?
It’s essential that we do everything we can to mitigate risk and conflict in our day-to-day operations, and while day-to-day can sound mundane or trivial, it’s anything but in aviation. Pilots are faced with an ever-changing and increasingly challenging environment, continuous decision-making, and nonnormal events that are successfully dealt with when two pilots leverage their expertise, experience, and professionalism to bring the flight to a safe conclusion. This has been and continues to be proven over and over again. Pilots ensure safe operations every time they enter an airline flight deck.
As pilots, it’s our responsibility to ensure that we foster a professional and respectful work culture with our flight deck and cabin crewmembers, dispatchers, controllers, and everyone we work with in flight and on the ground.
As a union, we’re constantly working to keep our industry safe, support our members, and make our profession stronger. In 2023, we had a record year negotiating contracts, which allows us to offer to return $50 million in dues to our members for the first time in history.
The offer to return dues is available to all U.S. and Canadian members and will be prorated based on dues paid in 2023. The money will come entirely from ALPA’s national funds and doesn’t inhibit individual master executive councils (MEC) from offering their own refunds of significant MEC account surpluses, if eligible. More information will be coming soon about the timing and process to receive your portion of the refund.
Our unity has made us successful in the halls of Capitol Hill and Parliament Hill. Our unity will maintain safety on our aircraft. Our unity will strengthen our position at the bargaining table. I salute you for always stepping up and fighting for our profession.