Originally Posted by
forgot to bid
And there's a lot of truth to that, but, there is a downside and possibly larger downside of not being able to tell if the survey results are disregarded in favor of the MEC's agenda.
I don't think that's going to happen, I really don't, but that door could be left ajar, even if only as a accusation, if there is not some sort of external mechanism to verify.
It could work out another way though too, what if 51% of the surveys are completed by a subgroup of pilots who'd throw everyone under the bus for the sake of a pay raise prior to their pending retirement. You surely want the union to act as a representative and kick that notion to the curb.
I see more downside in not doing it. Sure the company's negotiators can use it to their advantage but at the same time if the priorities are Scope, Pay, Work Rules they can go after the hotels and pick at work rules but in the end we still have to ratify the thing.
This is a very critical point here FTB and one of the reasons that DALPA's lack of trust is so harmful now. Here's why: If many Delta pilots don't trust DALPA, but want to wait and see if the opener is weak before they do anything about it, it will be far too late. If the DALPA opener is weak, then they claim it's what the survey showed, it will make the DPA a moot point until the
next contract. This is because the NMB would take a dim view of any negotiations whereby one party
increased the desires shown in their opener.
If ALPA is not replaced prior to the exchange of Section 6 openers, trust is all we'll have to hope for because DALPA will NOT release the survey. If you love the opener, great. If you hate the opener, there's nothing you can do about it except understand that the final product will only be worse than the opener you hate.
Carl