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To all Active ALPA Members  -6-  January 26, 1948

It is commonly conceded that the first pilots achieved the greatest gains under the 1946-47 cycle of employment agreement negotiations.  In 1948, the plan is to concentrate on the copilots' rates of compensation in an attempt to bring them to a more equitable level.  The negotiations for the purpose of attempting to bring this about will begin on American Airlines on January 27, 1948 in New York.

That, in brief, gives you the story on the employment agreement achievements of your organization during 1947, together with the critical struggles, extensive planning, strategy and just plain hard work of the preceding year, 1946, that made our monumental employment agreement rates-and-methods-of-compensation achievements of 1947 possible.

Lest we forget, at the beginning of ALPA, the air carriers set the rates of compensation for first pilots at $250 per month and for copilots at $150 per month for flying 140 and 160 hours respectively.

For comparative purposes, let's look at what the air line pilots of another free country are receiving.  The British air line pilots are among the highest paid.  They receive monthly a low of $200 and a high of $300 for copilots; and a low of $333.33 and a high of $550 monthly for first pilots.  Computed yearly, this means $2400, $3600, $4000, and $6600, respectively. In our country, with ALPA as your bargaining agent, the copilots receive a low of $265.00 and a high of $540.00 per month; and the first pilots receive a low of $748.08 and a high of $1206.38 monthly, which computed yearly means $3180, $6480, $8976.96, and $14,476.56, respectively. 

Now for a sour note: At the end of this kind of achievement, a checkup on the books in the final quarter of 1847 showed one in four members owing on ALPA dues or assessments or both. I have confidence when all members have read this letter and know what's going on and what's being accomplished for them, this percentage will be cut to an infinitesimal minimum. 

2. 1947 GRIEVANCE AND CONCILIATION DEPARTMENT ACTIVITIES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

In every ALPA agreement, which agreements now number 21, there are two key section, entitled "Investigation and Discipline" and "Grievances", commonly referred to as the "grievance-settling machinery of the air line pilots". These section, next to the ones covering rates of compensation, are the most important to you because they protect your employment. In many ways, they are even more important than the compensation, are the most important to you because they protect your employment. In many ways, they are even more important than the compensation sections because without employment you couldn't draw compensation. The most powerful and highly valued of these two sections reads as follows:

"(a) Any pilot or group of pilots covered by this agreement who have a grievance concerning any action of the Company affecting them shall be entitled to the same right of investigation and hearing, and the same privileges concerning appeal as are accorded individual pilots in Section 29 of this agreement."

The "Investigation and Discipline" section is too lengthy to quote. It provides the various steps available to any member in good standing who has any action taken against him by his company to have hearings capable of transforming inequities and arbitrary actions into something savoring of equity and justice for all. The section quoted provides the machinery for grieving against the Company. In other words, there are two grievance sections in every agreement. One is for the purpose of the company taking action