Another First
By Capt. Joseph Genovese, ALPA Vice President–Finance/Treasurer
Since being elected your vice president–finance/treasurer, I’ve experienced a lot of “firsts.” But perhaps the one I was looking forward to most was leading for the first time the Association’s Secretary-Treasurers Conference—along with my colleague, Capt. Bill Couette, ALPA’s vice president–administration/secretary. I’ve attended in the past as a secretary-treasurer for United and with my work on the Association’s Major Contingency Fund Strike Oversight Board, but it’s a different ballgame when you’re leading the entire conference.
And this year’s Secretary-Treasurers Conference, which was held March 12–14, was one of ALPA’s biggest ones yet, because—based on pilot feedback that we received from Leadership Training Conference attendees—we opened it to local executive council (LEC) secretary-treasurers. And we’ll continue to do this going forward; so LEC secretary-treasurers, mark your calendars for March 2020!
The reason for this change is twofold. First, it emphasizes the need to maintain the same conservative budgeting at all levels of ALPA, from ALPA national to master executive councils (MECs) and LECs, and backs it up with the training necessary to do so. And second, it helps to train future MEC secretary-treasurers—and ALPA always wants to stay ahead of the curve.
This year is going to be an important one for the Association and our budgeting, from top to bottom, as we gear up to implement certain changes. During last year’s Board of Directors meeting, delegates voted to reduce annual dues, starting on Jan. 1, 2020, from 1.90 to 1.85 percent of gross monthly earnings. This reduction in dues, of course, decreases the monies distributed to our MECs and LECs, in addition to those for our Administrative and Support Account and our contingency funds. As an aside, to mitigate the effects of the dues reduction on some smaller MECs in the budgeting process, the BOD approved a change that allows the Operating Contingency Fund to provide payments to those affected MECs in order to make up for the loss of income.
The Association previously reduced member dues from 1.95 to 1.90 percent in 2014, so we have some recent experience to lean upon. We’re very aware that we must take great care to continue to be responsible in our budgeting.
Part of this responsibility is to provide an overall review of ALPA’s financial policies, so last fall the Executive Board created the Structure, Services, and Finance Review Committee. We had a phone meeting earlier this year and then met in person the week after the Secretary-Treasurers Conference. I was able to take feedback from our secretary-treasurers and share their thoughts, topics of interest, and ideas with committee members for their consideration.
This year’s Secretary-Treasurers Conference was extremely informative. I was able to meet face-to-face with many of our diligent volunteers, and I heard about the issues their pilot groups are facing. Many of our MEC volunteers have decades of experience, so bringing together the full group created important networking opportunities and the ability for attendees to learn from each other.
One of the benefits of a union like ALPA is that whenever a pilot volunteer has an issue or concern, chances are that someone else has dealt with the same issue or a similar one in the past and can offer advice. This rings especially true for secretary-treasurers, and we reiterated that to them throughout the conference.
In my new leadership role during this year’s Secretary-Treasurers Conference, I was able to see firsthand the impressive level of responsibility and dedication our volunteers bring to the table as they act in the best interests of our 61,000-plus members. I’m proud to stand with each and every one of our secretary-treasurers as they help lead the Association, and I look forward to responsibly setting our financial course for the years to come.
