As an independent union, we envision an organization that builds upon the productive relationship that has been built with Allegiant over the last seven years in order to hammer out a legally-binding CBA within 18 months (not 2 years, not 3, not 5). We envision this contract to include significant gains for all Allegiant pilots such as:

•A retirement package that provides confidence for the future
•An improved health care package
•Improved work rules that relieve some of our day-to-day stress and add to our quality of life
•Authority in the scheduling process to have genuine influence therein
•Committees with real influence in professional standards, safety, etc.
•An established grievance process that will create penalties for the disregard for rules that has plagued us to date
•An overhaul of our compensation package, including training pay in line with our peers
•An improved incident review process that would help to mitigate the stress associated with an investigation

Our experience so far indicates that our pilot group has the available talent to accomplish this and Allegiant management will be more motivated to work with us toward this goal than with any national union.

We envision an independent organization that will be more responsive to our members and less expensive than any national union could be. This is due to the facts that we will be the organization’s sole focus, its overhead will be much lower (no executive salaries above our own) and its motivation more intense–it has to deliver or we will fire it. If we get tired of a national union, their vast resources will be mobilized to convince us to stay; if we tire of an independent, it would be our decision alone to pull the plug. It would also be committed to never funding political causes with which our members do not agree. The officially recognized status as a union will allow us to provide greater services to our pilots than we have previously seen such as:

•Full-time member-service response
•Regular informational updates
•Member legal services
•Office space we can be proud of
•Hired staff to handle day-to-day duties

In short, we envision an independent union that would follow the footsteps of other successful independents such as SWAPA, APA and IPA–an organization that will work with Allegiant to enhance our lives and ensure a bright future for years to come.