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My NWA pilot view is that this merger is off to a miserable start. The pre-merger negotiations on each groups behalf were a disaster and we both screwed the pooch at a golden opportunity. Now RA has used the divide and conquer method with DALPA to poison the well, and I believe that the minute gains made for the Delta pilots were an effort to stroke your group to accept this and the further acrimony of SLI. I have watched the NWA pilots fight the red book/green book war for 21 years. And the gist of my take on that has been that red book pilots didn't care as much as to how well they did as a whole, as much as that they did better than the green book pilots.
After years of speculation, bankruptcies, and finally with the chance to make a go of building a world mega carrier, the engineers of this merger were met with a collective yawn from Wall Street. And if RA succeeds in further dividing the two pilot groups, this will pan out as a disaster to all of our careers.
I know we are all preoccupied with our own navels and suppose for an instant, we got this thing together and used our collective strengths to further all of our potential. What might that mean?
The synergy of the Delta route structure to feed the unprecedented fifth freedom rights to Tokyo and beyond will create unbelievable opportunities for us all. In five years, 747's, 777's, 787's, 767's and A330's will be swarming Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, India, Amsterdam, Paris, and Frankfurt. Dormant route authority will fuel further growth as the feed from Delta's east coast dominance will make business traffic to Asia, Europe and South America surge. The KLM/Air France alignment will align competition to be complimentary and not predatory. NWA's old domestic route structure is the last great SWA/LCC free segment of this country, and the unfortunate souls that fill NWA's airplanes from the Fargo's, Bismarcks, and Edmontons will be filling larger airplanes to go where they have to. This is about open skies, and aligning this company to regain the business markets, and the ATL/MSP/LGA/DTW flights to take rug rats to Disney World, and auto workers to drunken orgies in Cancun will fade into chump work.
We pilots need to envision that, and force our MEC's to respond to our collective futures. Lee Moak needs to step up to the plate, squash the suicidal picketing threats and meager one sided bargaining for scraps. Dave Stevens needs to act like a leader, get a real attitude that the train has already left the station, stop howling about preventing this merger, and they both need to hammer out a seniority list without the inevitable destruction of a prolonged arbitration. This is our opportunity to shape our own futures, instead of responding to the tired old mantra of I've got more than those other guys. Just my take on this thing.
My NWA pilot view is that this merger is off to a miserable start. The pre-merger negotiations on each groups behalf were a disaster and we both screwed the pooch at a golden opportunity. Now RA has used the divide and conquer method with DALPA to poison the well, and I believe that the minute gains made for the Delta pilots were an effort to stroke your group to accept this and the further acrimony of SLI. I have watched the NWA pilots fight the red book/green book war for 21 years. And the gist of my take on that has been that red book pilots didn't care as much as to how well they did as a whole, as much as that they did better than the green book pilots.
After years of speculation, bankruptcies, and finally with the chance to make a go of building a world mega carrier, the engineers of this merger were met with a collective yawn from Wall Street. And if RA succeeds in further dividing the two pilot groups, this will pan out as a disaster to all of our careers.
I know we are all preoccupied with our own navels and suppose for an instant, we got this thing together and used our collective strengths to further all of our potential. What might that mean?
The synergy of the Delta route structure to feed the unprecedented fifth freedom rights to Tokyo and beyond will create unbelievable opportunities for us all. In five years, 747's, 777's, 787's, 767's and A330's will be swarming Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, India, Amsterdam, Paris, and Frankfurt. Dormant route authority will fuel further growth as the feed from Delta's east coast dominance will make business traffic to Asia, Europe and South America surge. The KLM/Air France alignment will align competition to be complimentary and not predatory. NWA's old domestic route structure is the last great SWA/LCC free segment of this country, and the unfortunate souls that fill NWA's airplanes from the Fargo's, Bismarcks, and Edmontons will be filling larger airplanes to go where they have to. This is about open skies, and aligning this company to regain the business markets, and the ATL/MSP/LGA/DTW flights to take rug rats to Disney World, and auto workers to drunken orgies in Cancun will fade into chump work.
We pilots need to envision that, and force our MEC's to respond to our collective futures. Lee Moak needs to step up to the plate, squash the suicidal picketing threats and meager one sided bargaining for scraps. Dave Stevens needs to act like a leader, get a real attitude that the train has already left the station, stop howling about preventing this merger, and they both need to hammer out a seniority list without the inevitable destruction of a prolonged arbitration. This is our opportunity to shape our own futures, instead of responding to the tired old mantra of I've got more than those other guys. Just my take on this thing.
There are no plans to picket. The permits were taken out if a protest against NWA management would have been required because of their position to merge the airlines with no pilot imput. Its amazing how this forum blows things out of proportion. Dalpa also took permits out at every major Delta hub for the same purpose against Delta management had they gone along. They took other permits out back in Dec in case they were needed. Smart moves by a very proactive MEC. I don't believe RA has a divide and conquer strategy. He needed waivers on the Dalpa contract and paid for it. The only contract that matters for the future is the joint contract. Both RA and Dalpa have said over and over again they want it done and done fast.
There are plenty of DAL/NWA pilots feel the same way...great post...the sooner we let the "sunshine" in on this process and clear the air, the better. Time for fairness in the SLI is upon us....the Open Skies swarm is on our doorstep...we better position ourselves for success, rather than the same old tooth and nail fight.
Another with similar views. I've only been at NWA for 6 months, so I'm still trying to look at everyone offers and see what makes sense. The problem I have is what I hear on these boards is very different from what I hear from people face to face. That makes the issues quite confusing and I'd rather make sure we have everything in order rather then a shotgun marriage.
Like anyone, I wish we would have remained independent but as they say, times are-a-changing.
I think rational minds will prevail, because there really are some huge possibilities ahead if this merger is done correctly, and ALL of us pilots will stand to benefit.
As for Lee Moak, he has been a pretty decent leader for us in unprecedented times. I believe he will take an inclusive approach from this point forward....and I think there will be pressure on him to do so from us because nobody wants to have miserable cockpits come 2011/2012 when we're all eventually flying together. Hopefully the appropriate pressure will be put on your leadership to do the same.
I'm probably naive, but it'd be good if we can bury all the coloring books and move on.
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