December 10 - Last week, Midwest Airlines pilots marked the ten-year anniversary of the National Mediation Board (NMB) certifying ALPA as their collective bargaining representative. The pilot group celebrated this important milestone with a banquet in Milwaukee, November 30, 2007. Among the guests were numerous Midwest pilots—including many of the original Organizing Committee members—and their families, as well as former President Capt. Duane Woerth, ALPA staff who worked closely with the pilot group, and all four current ALPA national officers.

The program included a video entitled, “Midwest Pilots & ALPA—10 Years of Unity,” that told the story of how the Midwest Express (as the airline was then called) pilots secured ALPA representation. The video [DSL/Cable | Dial-Up] also highlighted some of the pilot group’s achievements and experiences over the past ten years.

In reflecting on the Midwest pilots’ first years as ALPA members and looking forward to their contract negotiations in 2008, Capt. Woerth said, “Democracy is not a spectator sport. And a union requires participation for it to be successful. Not just participation by the MEC officers, or the Negotiating Committee, but also by the membership. You’ve done that for the past ten years, and you will continue to prove what a unified pilot group can accomplish.”