Thought I replied to this earlier, but I think that's a very narrow view of it... Until this point, we didn't have any influence with them. If we want their publications to change, we have to be able to speak to and provide insight to the topics they cover
Apologies brother it has been a long week for me. Talking, communicating, and having a dialogue with them is different than giving money. By no means am I naive to think that anything in life is free, BUT with what we do alone should guarantee our Subject-Matter-Experts (SME's) time with them WITHOUT having to use Due's money.
Here is a recent article by the "famous" Robert Poole:
Guest Op-Ed: A U.S. Air Traffic Control Corporation Is Inevitable - The Eno Center for Transportation
"Reflecting on the 2017-2018 U.S. legislative efforts, despite the failure to pass the bill in the House, the concept had far more support than ever before. All the major airlines supported it (after Delta switched sides and came on board).
So did controllers’ union NATCA and several pilots’ and flight attendants’ unions. Five former Secretaries of Transportation supported corporatization (plus current Secretary Elaine Chao), as well as all three former heads of the Air Traffic Organization itself. Nearly all the national newspapers (bar the
New York Times) editorialized in favor of Shuster’s proposed nonprofit ATC corporation. "
You can of course read the article at your leisure, and I assure you I do not have a tin foil hat, but this
seems (my interpretation of course) to have been (perhaps continuing to be) from the start (going all the way to the video with Rinaldi and Poole) a coordinated effort to bring "Privatisation" about. The article he writes (not the first one to be sure) deliberately misleads people and tries to constantly spin it by saying it has broad support.
- The nearly 50,000-member-strong Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) in D.C. also supports H.R. 2997, but has not taken a position on air traffic control reform. “We leave the issue of ATC to those who work in the system,” AFA spokeswoman Taylor Garland told Transportation Today in an email. But AFA supports the bill for its other proposed provisions.“Our top two job and safety priorities are included in the 21st Century AIRR Act: 10 hours, non-reducible rest and a Fatigue Risk Management Plan for flight attendants, and protections against the ‘flag of convenience model’ in aviation,” Garland explained. (Unions representing air traffic controllers, flight attendants support House bill to reauthorize FAA - Transportation Today)
- Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, along with nearly 250 general aviation organizations, state and local aviation officials, labor unions, consumer groups and airports said they had sent a letter to congressional leaders vowing to oppose any effort to privatize air traffic control. (Plan to privatize U.S. air traffic control lacks support: congressman)
Now that being said the Airline Pilots association released a statement on 06/05/2017 that stated: “The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l believes that air traffic control reform presents an opportunity to secure the reliable, predictable, and sufficient funding needed to enhance the global leadership role that the United States currently holds in aviation safety and efficiency. "
While NATCA has lobbied for a "stable funding stream" I find it extremely coincidental that many of the same companies/unions have adopted the language that NATCA pioneered. Sure in the English language there are only a certain amount of ways to word something but nonethless the thought remains there.
Truth be told I have not completely gone through the PAC information yet to see what has been given, but this is due's money. This is money taken directly from our pockets and given to organisations like this. I have a major problem with it and the trust that was placed in the people at the top.