Latest News on the ALPA Takeover
Takeaways of the AAMNC Winter Briefing to the Board by DCA CH Wachter
Today, the AAMNC briefed your Board of Directors on the current status of negotiations with ALPA. Video of the open presentation should be located here by Tuesday morning. While neither party is claiming that an agreement is impossible, the most recent pass from ALPA suggests we remain far apart in terms of cost and membership priorities.
As indicated by recent polling and our guidance to the AAMNC, APA pilots have a clear expectation of any proposed merger agreement: maintain dues at an acceptable level while ensuring the protections of our dedicated staff and key APA-provided services.
The Financial Reality As outlined in today’s AAMNC presentation, the math presents a significant challenge. Even if we increased dues for American Airlines pilots by 40% (to a 1.4% rate), the AA MEC would still operate at a $16M annual deficit—roughly 43% of our required operating budget.
This deficit exists because of the robust, high-touch services APA provides: Aeromedical, IT, App Development, Benefits, Government Affairs, Contract Administration, Safety, and Scheduling. Under the current ALPA proposal:
- AA pilots would pay an estimated $80M+ per year in dues.
- $43.1M would go to ALPA National to fund their centralized functions.
- Only $37.4M would return to the AA MEC to operate locally.
This creates a stark value proposition: How much are you willing to pay, where should that money go, and—critically—what services are you willing to sacrifice?
The Five Paths Forward, as I see them:
- Drastic Service Cuts: Reducing our 103 dedicated staff members to the 20–30 member levels seen at the Delta or United MECs. These cuts would impact Aeromedical, Benefits and IT support currently provided by APA.
- Higher Assessments: Increasing dues beyond the proposed 1.4% rate to cover the $16M shortfall, to an estimated rate of 1.678%, essentially requiring AA pilots to pay more than anyone else at ALPA in order to maintain our current services.
- ALPA Merges our Services: ALPA integrates and funds our key services at the ALPA National level, reducing the estimated deficit without the need for an assessment of AA pilots.
- ALPA Structural Reform: ALPA National fundamentally changes its structure to return more dues to the MECs.
- Status Quo: Maintaining APA’s independent 1%–1.5% dues structure.
At present, there is no logical path that meets all pilot expectations. I need to hear from you directly. What do you expect from your union representation? I am available via call, text, email reply, or SoundOff.
Strategic Collaboration On a positive note, APA has successfully repaired and restored relationships with our peer groups, including ALPA. We have opened our organizations to mutual inspection; APA has found ALPA processes worth emulating, and ALPA has expressed interest in replicating our "best-in-class" services for their own properties. Furthermore, the AAMNC’s work to lower dues rates is a win for all pilots, regardless of the merger outcome. If we are ultimately unable to reach a mutually agreeable solution to these significant issues, I am confident that our relationships with our colleagues at ALPA will be better as we exit this process than they were when we entered.
Section 6 openers are approaching rapidly—not just for us, but for Delta and United as well. While the negotiating committees of all 3 pilot groups are now meeting regularly, our time and resources are finite. We must determine quickly if the AAMNC and ALPA negotiators can bridge this $16M gap in a manner consistent with our members’ priorities and resolve the remaining open issues. There are no easy answers to this 'wicked problem,' and the Board is intent on continuing to discuss and debate our next steps later this week. In order for me to best represent the will of the DCA membership I wish to move forward with clear directive on what you are—and are not—willing to sacrifice in order for us to reach a proposed merger agreement.
I look forward to hearing from you.
In Unity,
CA Chris Wachter
DCA Domicile Chair
Allied Pilots Association
(904) 423-6324
cwachter@alliedpilots.org
Message from CA Steve Pacheco, Longtime APA Pilot Volunteer
To the Chairs, Deputy Chairs, volunteers and the Staff,
We all know why I was removed as the Membership Chair. However, I would like to add that no one is safe if you buck the system. You must "click" with the president. You must agree with the narrative, and you must lay with those who are complicit in undermining the Allied Pilots Association. It's apparent that some can run their mouths on social media and be given a pass. It's apparent that a lawyer can be as dirty as ever (while having his ass kicked by two pilots). The problem isn't them. It's the top. A leader who can't lead and is a failure on so many levels.
The independence, integrity, and future of our Association are under direct attack — and the very committees that work tirelessly to support our pilots are being systematically targeted.
Our leadership, including the President, has allowed outside influences to infiltrate and shape APA decisions, while silencing the very voices that represent our pilots. Under the pretense of acting “for the pilots,” they have instead enabled the erosion of internal accountability and the marginalization of committees and volunteers who serve with integrity. I have personally witnessed volunteers being offered positions and jobs as part of an ALPA merger — deliberate efforts to divide and influence our Association from within. This is not speculation. It is happening, and it is alarming.
Pilots absolutely have the right to choose their representation. But the acts of those complicit — including the President — are undermining that right by manipulating the narrative and concealing the truth of the work you do. Your dedication, your service, and your committee contributions are being misrepresented, dismissed, and silenced. This is not leadership — it is betrayal.
During critical meetings with ALPA, APA committees were intentionally excluded while ALPA committees were welcomed. I raised these issues directly to the Board and the President, and despite repeated warnings, nothing changed. I refused to be silent — and for that, I was removed.
Let me be clear: I was fired under the false pretense of “being needed elsewhere,” months after the President first used that excuse — a transparent attempt to disguise retaliation against someone unwilling to go along quietly.
And let us not forget the President’s own words regarding the ALPA merger and how to communicate with the pilots in the executive meeting room.
“The pilots have the right to be stupid.”
That statement speaks volumes about the contempt and disregard shown toward the membership and the committees that serve them.
To the staff: your role is indispensable. Despite claims that “this is about the pilots,” your work and your voices are essential to the health and integrity of the Association. I urge you to remain vigilant, informed, and unafraid to question what is happening. Protect yourselves and the work you have built. Do not allow your committees, your integrity, or your livelihoods to be silenced or compromised.
For those who were lied to and replaced others — I wish you the best, and I want you to know this: you are being used. You deserve honesty, not manipulation. Do not let temporary opportunity come at the cost of your integrity or your fellow pilots.
We are at a tipping point. If we fail to act decisively, the very foundation of APA — the independence and unity that protect every pilot — could be dismantled from within. The time to stand firm and defend this Association is now.
Don’t forget. Never put your trust in a lawyer. Especially when he gets his ass handed to him by two pilots.
I have served our pilots with honesty, transparency, and conviction. I remain proud of what we achieved together, and I trust that those who value truth over politics will not allow this Association to be taken apart in silence.
Best of luck
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
CA Steven Pacheco
STOP Chair
Allied Pilots Association
3619603147
BOS Recap of $39,000+ Special BOD Meeting for ALPA Merge
AAMNC SBOD RECAP
The APA Board of Directors (BOD) convened a virtual Special Board of Directors (SBOD) meeting 17DEC, as requested by the APA-ALPA Merger Negotiation Committee (AAMNC), to receive a briefing, and provide guidance and tasking to the AAMNC on decision points that required BOD voting action. These votes can only occur when the BOD is in session (virtually or in-person).
The APA Information Hotline (which only communicates open session information) of 17DEC, and the AAMNC update email from 18DEC, paint a much rosier picture than the closed-session briefings, deliberations and questioning that took place. It is our position that most of the meeting could have been held in open session, and that the membership has a right to know as much as possible.
A majority of the BOD voted to keep all but the very end of the meeting in closed session, and we are forced to question why “controlling the narrative” looks to be by design, or according to a plan. When it was finally time to question the AAMNC in open session after their briefing, the meeting was adjourned by a division vote, before a single question could be asked of the AAMNC that membership could see on the recording. WHY?
Recent actions around the removal and recall of APA volunteers from prominent member-facing committees, and prohibitions against APA volunteers social-media engagement, only add to our concern that there is a desire for the APA members to only receive the narrative the AAMNC wishes you to hear, as they drive APA towards the boilerplate ALPA acquisition agreement presented to any independent union in the past.
We will continue to provide the full picture without revealing closed session negotiating priorities, which is what closed sessions are designed to protect. THANKFULLY - Unique to APA, our union… your BOS Reps are free to share the facts in our Domicile communications. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. We encourage you to share this email with your friends and peers from all domiciles, as we only have the ability to email the pilots of BOS.
OVERVIEW:
We have serious concerns with the pace of negotiations, the lack of progress in key areas, and the projected expenditure of member money. Please allow us to break it down further, as accountability and transparency are essential to ensure APA members are being fairly represented.
TIMELINE:
We learned during this meeting, that the ALPA negotiations are expected to take Six months longer than what the BOD’s previously briefed timeline was when it voted to form the AAMNC. At the time of the vote to form the AAMNC, the most accurate and recent information, provided to the BOD from the original 2023 ALPA exploratory committee, was that from the start of negotiations (after due diligence exchanges), it would take approximately five months to reach a full Agreement In Principle (AIP) for the BOD to vote on. See the timeline photos below.
The first formal negotiation between the current AAMNC (formed in MAY 25) and ALPA was in NOV 25, so based on the previous timeline brief, our expectation was that negotiations would conclude no later than APR 26.
Your BOS Reps were blindsided with an AAMNC briefing revealing a timeline that this process will likely continue through OCT 26! Eleven months from start of formal negotiations, far longer than the previously briefed five months. From the formation of the AAMNC: almost eighteen months!
Noteworthy is that the member of the original ALPA exploratory committee and the hired outside-advisor of that committee that briefed the inaccurate and misleading timeline, are both members of the current AAMNC. How could there be such a gross disparity? We have to ask ourselves why the overpromising to the BOD in 2023 and again when we formed the AAMNC?
When the BOD vote took place to form the AAMNC, it was our understanding that ALPA negotiations would be complete well before the start of Section Six early openers that occur in AUG 26. The “timeline as we know it” has been updated so that the official end of the ALPA negotiations process, and preparations for our negotiations for a new CBA, will OVERLAP.
Section Six CBA early openers will now occur before the ALPA question is fully decided.
You have told us directly, in person, and through concourse conversations that this is unacceptable.
Remember that the President of APA, FO Nick Silva, is an ex-officio member of the AAMNC. In our view as your BOS Reps, from what you have consistently provided to us in your feedback, it is unacceptable to divide APA resources, the President’s attention, and overall union resources during Section Six.
Of further note, numerous attempts to provide the AAMNC with negotiating leverage by putting a “flag in the ground” on a targeted end-date before Section Six openers have been repeatedly rejected by a majority of the BOD. As such with no urgency, ALPA is slow rolling, only agreeing to negotiating sessions with us once a month. To date, ALPA has shown no willingness to advance their timeline, call any special meetings or spend any additional resources while we capitulate, call special meetings, and spend more and more of your money each month.
MISSING FROM AAMNC UPDATE:
The committee chose only to release positive news, we cannot speak to the motivation behind that choice, only that this is not typical of a negotiating posture. That being said, we can shine a light on some items that were NOT in the update from the AAMNC:
There was no mention of union dues, WHY?
ALPA has no intention of matching our industry leading 1.0% (1.5% in Section Six) nominal dues rate as part of these negotiations. ALPA simply cannot run their business model, where the larger pilot groups subsidize the smaller ones, at our superior 1% dues rate. Supporting the National ALPA HQ in McLean, VA and all the added expenditures of a large bureaucracy simply cannot be done in the efficient way we are able to at APA.
In fact, to date ALPA has no intention of calling a special meeting to finalize dues rates unless we FIRST agree to an ALPA acquisition of APA resources. They will likely attempt to use the $90M in annual dues revenue we would bring as leverage to lower dues at our peers of DALPA & UALPA. We’re sure our peers at those pilot groups will welcome using our money for their personal benefit.
Let it sink-in that based on the current timeline briefed by the AAMNC, if a proposed acquisition agreement is reached, it appears the BOD will be asked to approve, and subsequently the American Airlines pilots, asked to ratify, something CONTINGENT on ALPA doing something after the fact on dues rates.
We all remember the “you have to vote for it to see what’s in it” line- well, that is where we currently find ourselves in these negotiations. We’re sure you find this as contemptuous as we do.
The APA President, as ex-officio member of the AAMNC, has acknowledged there is no scenario where our dues stay the same or are lowered if we join ALPA. We will be paying more, so that other ALPA pilot groups may pay less.
ALPA may lower their dues in any case, as we set the benchmark that they can’t obtain- but their dues will be lowered by a smaller amount if we don’t reach an agreement to be acquired, and bring your dues dollars to the equation. In all scenarios we will be paying higher dues so that ALPA pilots can pay less.
Expect ALPA to obfuscate this APA advantage, with slick terms like “effective dues rate”, and attempts to use a shell-game of optional dues refunds to hide the nominal ALPA dues rate of 1.85%. APA has been at a zero dues rate for months, but we don’t need to use that to show we have the industry leading rate and achieved a parity CBA, because it isn’t a forward-looking guarantee.
Even if they lower their dues, we will still be paying more, if acquired by ALPA.
We know you’re smart enough to see through it. We expect that our AAMNC relies solely on nominal rate comparisons, we expect you will as well. Dues refunds and dues holidays are like profit-sharing… we have the same formula, but our airline is far less profitable, so we suffer.
Don’t fall for “effective” dues rate disguises by ALPA, promises of refunds, etc. and don’t accept them from our AAMNC, we will not.
Aeromedical, Benefits & IT: It is undisputed that APA has the industry leading in-house aeromedical staff, benefits programs & staff, and pilot-facing IT applications & staff. Also missing from the AAMNC update:
There was no mention by the Committee of any agreement to protect our gold standard in-house Aeromedical staff and retain independent control of our personalized Aeromedical services in perpetuity.
The devil is in the details, and the key words in the AAMNC update are “Subject to further due diligence by ALPA” (photo below). This isn’t a surprise, because ALPA has no in-house aeromedical support, instead they have a services agreement with a third-party vendor, named AMAS.
All surveys across the domiciles have shown that aeromedical being outsourced to AMAS is a redline in these negotiations for our pilots. It is reasonable given ALPA’s structure that the other ALPA pilot groups that are forced to use an outside vendor will not look favorably upon American Airlines pilots having a unique aeromedical carve out.
We will update you, if and when, the Committee is able to secure an agreement which would guarantee that AA pilots will never be forced to outsource our Aeromedical staff and support if we became part of ALPA.
Additionally, there was nothing in the Committee’s briefing regarding any agreement to protect our gold standard in-house Benefits staff and retain independent control of our personalized Benefit Plans in perpetuity.
The devil is in the details, and the key words in the AAMNC update are “On the Effective Date of the merger” (photo below). There appears to be nothing that guarantees, or even suggests, that we would be able to KEEP our industry-leading benefit plans and support staff in-house, after that date.
Should we be acquired by ALPA: The reduced amount of dues money an AA Master Executive Council (MEC) would be able to keep for our exclusive use is less than ≈40% of dues collected, after contributing to the National ALPA structure.
Choices would have to be made to triage the myriads of services that we now provide to the APA members, that we can afford now by virtue of keeping all of our member dues. As you see in the second bullet below- we keep the full cost, but with ≈60% less of our members’ money available after ALPA National takes their cut.
Finally, there is no agreement in principle yet to protect our gold standard in-house IT support and the APA owned pilot-facing APP: APA PILOT, in perpetuity.
The devil is in the details, and the AAMNC update fails to even mention these resources which consistently poll at the top of APA members’ satisfaction. There is nothing that guarantees, or even suggests, that we would be able to keep our in-house App and support staff after the Effective Date of being acquired by ALPA. We will update you if such an agreement is reached.
IT’S YOUR MONEY:
Extensive time and money are being spent due to APA staff and subject matter experts (SME’s) working above their normal task-load to support the AAMNC. BOD time is being expended during regular meetings and in special meetings. APA resources, outside advisors’ fees, and legal expenses are being paid. Every day this negotiation goes on, the more membership dues are being expended.
We now know from this recent meeting the BOD was overpromised on the timeline and, as such negotiations will likely cost far more than anticipated due to nearly double the expected time requirement.
$1.6M of APA member dues has been spent on ALPA exploration and negotiation to date, and now we learned we still have an expected ten more months.
The AAMNC has been on full-time union leave at 105 hours per month, since JUN25, and will continue as such. We are paying the same outside advisor that we paid during the original exploratory committee in 2022-23 to advise the AAMNC.
We question the value of that “expert” expense, considering that the timeline was so inaccurate when all the same issues existed in 2023, and subsequent BOD voting decisions forming the AAMNC were made in accordance with false timelines.
As you can see in the chart below there is significant member money being spent above the $3M allotted to the AAMNC, who has spent roughly $600K of their budget, to date. We are very concerned about the higher cost, due to the new protracted timeline.
You have made it very clear to us in your direct communications to us as your BOS Reps, that you would prefer that your hard-earned dues dollars be spent on building up the APA Negotiating Department and hiring more full-time Economic and Financial Analysis (E&FA) staff at APAHQ in anticipation of Section Six openers as early as AUG 26.
We promise to continue shining the light of transparency and accountability on the AAMNC (and across APA) to ensure our dues dollars, that we work so hard to earn, are spent responsibly. The chart below contains data from the member-facing Financials page of the APA website.
JAN Domicile Meeting
We will host an in-person Domicile Meeting at Logan on FRI 30JAN from 1000-1400ET, to receive your input, and provide you with APA subject matter expert (SME) briefings. The meeting precedes the winter regular quarterly Board of Directors (BOD) meeting, which is scheduled for the first week of FEB. More details with the location, RSVP link, and expected speakers, to follow.
BOS Staff Holiday Gift
Last Chance! As we celebrate this season of giving, please consider our BOS Admin Staff, who are always there to support the APA pilots of Boston. Every little bit helps to make their holiday brighter. Every single dollar will stay in BOS only. 21DEC Deadline Link: Brighten the holidays for our BOS Admin Staff
Thanks for making it through this lengthy edition of the weekend Boston Gazette. We’ll see you on the line and in BOS operations. Happy Holidays!
The best way to reach us is by the email below, or by telephone. If you wish to reach all National and Domicile Officers as well as select National Committees and APA Staff members in a single click, send a SoundOff: HERE.
In Solidarity,
Larry & Tom
Larry: 603-717-1611
Tom: 781-367-5669
BOSTON STRONG