Originally Posted by
slowplay
It's a great ancillary business. Tell me again how much those 9 dedicated freighters lost us in 2008 before the shutdown?
Point is, FedEx and UPS have created a duopoly in their overnight package delivery business. They ran ABX, DHL, and the USPS into insignficant market share. They are both extremely profitable and are paying some of the highest wage rates in the US piloting business. Their main deck freighter counterparts (Atlas, Kalitta, et. al.) pay less than us on like aircraft. APC shows Atlas at $176 per hour for a 747. Astar and ABX only have a few pilots left after massive furloughs.
Because making fact based emotional arguments ( such as I'm doing the same job) hasn't worked in a long time. If they did Lloyd Hill and APA would be sitting on a 52% payraise right now and we'd pattern off of them. If they did, there wouldn't be such huge disparities in pay for pilots in the same aircraft and industry. There wouldn't be a $70 per hour difference betweek FedEx and Atlas heavy drivers. There wouldn't be a $40/hr difference between USAirways and Delta A320 pilots. Even in your personal history you joined 9E whose contract was substantially beneath CMR and ASA while you guys flew the same airplane. Why was that?
All the points you raise are fact. Look at the recent history of contract negotiations. Tell me what arguments worked and which ones didn't. I'm looking for the winning argument, not the populist and feel good ones.
Slow,
I don't like the defeatist attitude. First of all, we need an agent to represent us, and to go to bat for us. That means the agent will play us up, not look around and try to compare us to mediocre peers that really aren't our peers. That agent would say we are the star, and should be paid accordingly.
Who are our peers? No USair or American, both floundering majors with bad business plans. We are a Worldwide carrier, with a large domestic operation as well. That means our peers are Worldwide airlines, like our JV partners Air France and KLM, along with our biggest competitor in the domesitc arena, which will be Southwest after they gobble up Airtran. The Air France and KLM guys are paid very well, and are treated well by their airlines. Same with Southwest, and now the Airtran guys, who we have been compared to in the past, will share the Southwest pay and benefits. Those three airlines are really our peers, and they are the ones DALPA should compare us to.
If ALPA doesn't want to stand up for us, let's go for the DPA. If Dalpa can't act like a Jerry Maguire type agent, fighting all the way for what WE want, then it's time to move on, even if it delays our eventual agreement. And we are worth a lot more than 17% over 4 years (with 2 or 3 more for negotiations) for our next contract. Don't get me started.....