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To All Active ALPA Members  -24-  January 26, 1948

local council meetings being held? Why isn't the information given to the councils by Headquarters circulated at the council meetings and brought to the attention of the membership, etc., etc.? Local council work isn't much of a chore if it's kept up to date; if not, it soon becomes a real burden.

14. ABOUT THE EDUCATION AND ORGANIZATION DEPARTMENT OF HEADQUARTERS.

There probably is no part of ALPA's activities that is discussed more than the Education and Organization Department of Headquarters. The purpose of this little Department is to aid and assist other crafts and classes in the air line industry to become properly organized. The feeling is widespread among the ALPA membership that this effort is a brainchild of Headquarters. This is an error. The E&O Department came into being as a result of a popular demand from ALPA's membership at large. The first move made was at the 1944 Convention when a resolution was passed instructing Headquarters to take the necessary steps to aid and educate the other crafts and classes in the air line industry to organize. Before that time, many ALPA members beat a path to Headquarters' door demanding action. They were critical of inaction in the aiding and educating of the other air workers in proper Railway Labor act organizational procedure.

Sensing that the move would not receive universal support, especially at the beginning, Headquarters, in cooperation with the Central Executive Council, started the move off on the basis of voluntary contributions: $15 for first pilots, and $5 for copilots. The response was immediate and widespread, indicating popular support.

It's a difficult task to start something like this from scratch. Headquarters made the start and the move progressed considerably before the time of the 1946 Convention, which was held in 1947. At this Convention, the program was reviewed, including the progress made. The Convention decreed that the $15 first pilot and $5 copilot contributions to the E&O fund be made a mandatory assessment under the By-Laws and that this Department, which had previously not been a part of ALPA proper, be incorporated into its regular organizational structure. In short, the Convention decreed that all members who had not paid this assessment voluntarily were to be assessed in accordance with Article III, Section 7 of the By-Laws. Therefore, since that time, the necessary financial paper work has been accomplished and every first pilot and copilot has been billed for the $15 and $5 assessments. That's the story of the origin and background of the E&O Department.

Irrespective of what the pro and con opinions respecting ALPA's E&O Department may be, the following facts must be taken into consideration: Because ALPA was the first group to be organized in air line transportation and the only group that has been really successful in representing its membership, it naturally falls upon ALPA to take the lead and show the rest of the classes and crafts in the industry the difference between the right and wrong way of organizing. If ALPA did not do this and isolated itself, it would be practically the same as any country of the world today attempting to isolate itself from all other countries of the world. It just wouldn't work out. Moreover, there are all forms of organizations attempting to get into the field of organizing air line employees for representing purposes -- District No. 5 of the mine workers, certain of the railway brotherhoods, independents, the CIO, and company unions. It's a mad scramble. One might say, "Well, what of it? Let 'em scramble." We must not forget that we are all under Title II of the Railway Labor Act. The passage of this Act