Originally Posted by Whidbey

Bar- Great post.

I'm sure it's been covered on here, but we should bear in mind the economic backdrop that accompanied the RJ explosion in the nineties. We were on the back side of Desert Storm and the country was flush with cash (and very cheap oil) courtesy of our Saudi friends. The economics of the industry have changed drastically between then and now.

Hopefully the pilot group can hold the line on scope.... but I think the point has been made on here that we don't want to give away the farm with respect to pay and work rules if the company is just using scope threats as a bluff. Is it possible the company knows outsourcing is going to be less and less cost effective, but realizes it would be stupid to admit at risk of losing negotiating capital?

It's always tempting to prepare for the last war, but the next one will quite likely be fundamentally different.

Break break... I for one have appreciated all the ALPA mailers about how to read a balance sheet, etc. FWIW, it's informative for a new guy. However, I can see how that particular mailer could be perceived as a tacit endorsement of the (management) position that pilot pay be largely determined by profitability. The reductio ad absurdum argument is that if the company is losing money, we should be paying them to fly their planes. I'm not trying to criticize or say I know a better way, but I hope we can establish ourselves as more of a fixed cost.

Glad to be here.

Whidbey