Originally Posted by
Carl Spackler
......
Absolutely incorrect. I used to think the same thing about SWAPA's contracts. The reality is that they've darn near always had a great contract and great pay. It's just that the thing was so complex (to us based on our ALPA contracts) that many of us didn't understand just how much these guys were bringing home. Smart on their part, lazy on our part to not know and assume the worst......
Carl
You continue to lionize SWAPA, and I certainly have no quarrel with giving credit where credit is due, but lets not forget that their current industry leading pay rates are to no small degree thanks to the benchmark that DALPA set in 2000.
And while SWAPA has been a very effective advocate, their latest success (playing whack-a-mole on the Airtran pilot's domes) was facilitated in large part by SWA management...SWAPA has never really seen adversity, but now that the company's seemingly endless stream of profitable quarters has come to an end, and their cost advantage has been eroded, if UCal or AMR or DAL pilots don't close the pay gap quickly, then we will see....