Originally Posted by Old UCAL CA

A couple of things....

The MEC's still exist separately in their present form, but for practical purposes, contract negotiations were reset on the date of the merger announcement and we have been negotiating as a joint committee for a joint contract since...about one year...the last six months of that in mediation. Not too terribly long in the overall scheme of things. I truly do not know exactly what the committee is proposing except for generalities.

Neither side (management/joint committee) is able to convincingly or effectively cost a proposal or trade "meat" proposals routinely since flight and duty time are unknown quantities at present. It's my understanding the FAA is supposed to issue the final rule on or about the August/September timeframe. The pace should pick up about that time.

Secondly, your notion that profitability translates directly into base compensation is a popular notion that has rarely been realized in fact in the deregulated environment. Profitability certainly affects variable compensation (profit sharing, bonus, etc.) shares. However, base compensation is directly affected by a comparison to peer groups at similar companies and how the economy is doing.

Taking it a step further to the present day, this industry is deregulated, global in nature and so fiercely competitive that there likely isn't a surviving company or management group that would sign up to base labor compensation that they considered uncompetitive relative to other industry companies. If "bankruptcy" wages are where the industry is, that's about where everybody will sit unless a dynamic market factor changes. Variable comp is a different matter.

I have no inkling of how the deals will look at UAL or DAL when the time comes...or American for that matter. You can rest assured though, they are all watching each other.