LeadSled
AIPA was formed in 1981. Malcolm Fraser was Prime minister and I was barely out of high school.
The Liberal Party was thrown out, re-elected, thrown out and again in power in the period since then.
If politics at the highest level can overcome historical biases and grievances, then there is no reason why we can't do it as well. There cannot be many left that were personally involved in the split from AFAP, so if the depth of feeling is still high, it can only be from others carrying the torch for those who legitimately hold grudges.
The leadership of both organisations has changed many times since then, so there should be no genuine animosity toward the incumbent individuals. Consider the relationship between Japan and the USA, or the UK and Germany. Surely there could be no greater hurdle to overcome than having been at war with another nation, yet all those nations have put national pride and genuine grievance aside in the national interest. Or in other words, in the interests of their constituents.
Surely we can do the same. At the end of the day it is leadership that is required. Unions are only people at the end of the day. Sure they have their individual cultures, but people can be convinced to take a better path when good leaders stand up and lead.
I understand Pprune is no longer a particularly useful tool for conveying serious information, yet it is still somewhat representative of actual opinions and perceptions. I find it enormously disappointing that there is such a lack of will among pilots to be conciliatory in the interests of progress, rather than inflammatory in the interests of perpetuating old grudges. These are general comments by the way, not aimed at your good self.
That aside, as you have stated, models already exist for more united workforce. I hear you when you say the AFAP have previously rejected that model, but make no mistake, the Feds only have to look at the fractured landscape which they had a lot of input into creating, to understand their AFAP first approach has not been in their best interests. I'm pretty sure they would now be open to a discussion on the subject.
What is needed is cool heads and, as always, compromise will be required. It is a huge irony that the most important role of all the unions is negotiation, yet we seem incapable of negotiating between ourselves for a better future.
I would consider the biggest barrier to progress is the pilots themselves and their general apathy toward unions. If the pilot wanted it, they would make sure they voted in the right representatives to progress it.
E.K.Gann
There you go, a couple of ideas already that can be built upon