Promoting Safety, Security, and Workers’ Rights
By Capt. Jason Ambrosi, ALPA President
In government, relationships are everything. Relationships are power.
For nine decades, the Association has recognized the critical importance of this equation and has worked to build powerful relationships with decision-makers in Washington and Ottawa whom we can rely on to protect and enhance the safety, security, and rights of our members. Since ALPA’s creation in 1931, the Association’s leaders have keenly recognized that airline pilots are unmatched in advocating for our union’s priorities. We prove this through the work of our dedicated district advocates, whose active engagement with members of Congress helps to influence public policy that affects our profession and our industry.
Sadly, for the first time in 16 years, we’re facing the aftermath of a fatal accident involving a U.S. passenger airline. As a result, we’re approaching our work advocating for aviation safety and security with renewed purpose to honor the two ALPA members we lost on PSA Flight 5342 earlier this year. We’re relying on our relationships and advocacy expertise to ensure an accident like this never happens again.
It’s imperative that we cultivate these relationships so that lawmakers call on us. If not, they’ll call on airline management or other financially motivated stakeholders—and our interests may likely take a back seat to theirs. With the Association’s dedicated team of Government Affairs experts and pilot advocates, we’re always building and strengthening these vital relationships.
Through our union’s extensive advocacy efforts in the halls of Parliament and on Capitol Hill, ALPA continues our founding members’ legacy of being an influential voice for aviation safety and workers’ rights.
Elected officials are more inclined to listen to constituents who show organized support for specific issues. As an ALPA member, when you reach out to your elected representatives, you reinforce the importance of your concerns.
Our District Advocacy program gives line pilots the opportunity to develop relationships with their representatives and become the trusted voice for aviation safety, security, and workers’ rights in their home states and districts. Through this program and events like the union’s annual Legislative Summit, we’re empowering our members to make their voices heard regarding the future of the airline piloting profession and the industry. We’re using our hands-on experience and our line-pilot perspective to help lawmakers and regulators understand the real-world impact of their decision-making.
Our union’s priorities are supported by ALPA members who step up and volunteer. The wins we achieve in Washington, D.C., and Ottawa are due in large part to pilots speaking with their representatives and voicing our union’s priorities. As you read the articles in this issue that highlight the work and successes of the pilots you sit next to on the flight deck, I hope they inspire you to raise your hand and play your part in protecting our careers and our industry.
One of the key principles of how we approach this work is that we’re pilot partisan.
Our issues aren’t liberal or conservative. They aren’t Democratic or Republican. They’re simply pilot priorities.
ALPA’s priority is to advance the safety, security, and well-being of pilots, and we’ll engage with anyone willing to work with us. In some ways, this is a radical strategy in an increasingly partisan system; but it allows us to maintain our strength and relationships regardless of which party is in power. Things may not always go our way—we can be up against powerful forces at times. But by forging strong connections with decision-makers in Washington and Ottawa, we set ourselves up to be part of the conversation. We’ll never miss an opportunity to engage with decision-makers simply because of their ideology.
In times of uncertainty and change, our work becomes even more important. We must remain vigilant to ensure that our priorities are paramount, and this depends on Association members establishing and maintaining these crucial relationships. Because of the efforts of ALPA advocates, we’ve succeeded in advancing our pilot-partisan agenda and making significant progress on issues that affect our members.
There’s an old saying in Washington that still rings true today: if you aren’t at the table, you’re on the menu. For the sake of the safety of our industry, the rights of labor, and the future of our careers, we must be at the table and continue the long and proud tradition that’s helped make aviation the safest form of transportation in the world.