Originally Posted by sailingfun

Give me the names of the DALPA guys who have told you they are willing to take less then SWA. I have not meet one. Everytime I have asked on here I get BS responses. No one can even give dates let alone names.
I don't believe anyone on the DALPA forums has stated we will sacrifice the bottom 1500 guys. What I have seen posted is a simple fact. If we switched to the SWA contract today and staffed at the level of manning SWA uses we would have a large surplus of pilots.
I for one am not willing to give up any work rules that would decrease manning. We already gave up 3000 jobs in work rules. We don't need to give up any more. When you look at SWA compensation you do however have to look at the total package and the final pilot block hour costs.
The form 10's for 2010 had Delta at 690 an hour and SWA at 698 within a buck or two. There are two reasons the pilot cost per block hour are so close. SW is more efficient and Delta has 3 and 4 man operations that skew the numbers in favor of SWA. Still even accounting for the 3 and 4 man operations are total pilot costs per block hour are not as different as many suggest and post on here.
When you go into negotiations and ask for SWA you need to be very careful. There could be lost of negative consequences. I for one don't think SWA has much relevance to Delta.
I want their hourly rate at a minimum however I want our retirement plan and work rules. That will put Delta costs well above SWA total block costs. I think Delta can afford it and my contract survey will reflect that.
Some will put they want total restoration and nothing less. Its a great goal but is it achievable in one contract. I don't think so. In fact I think that if we opened for that we assure ourselves of only 1 thing. We will work under the current contract for at least the next 5 years. Personally I think that a two step process will put a lot more money in my pocket and produce a higher quality of life. I would rather be working on our second contract in 2016 then still negotiating this one.