I think why he said that was because every time the pilots of an airline make any gains, every other labor group rushes in to management's offices in a mad dash demanding bolshevik "me too's" even when completely out of context.

For example, if we got 30-45% "raises" across the board, every other labor group would squeal about "me too" and "OMG! did you see how much the pilots got!!" yet it would take that amount to bring pilots up to pre-bankruptcy pay rates while most other labor groups are already within 10% or less and some are already back anyway. Think about that. The pilots have given far disportionately more than any other work groups and we're not even asking for all of it back. Just some, yet we *will* be accused of "demanding too much" just watch.

If pilots get more of a 401(k) increase than other groups, will that be "unfair"? The pensions that the pilots gave up to "save the company" in bankruptcy was pretty huge and now its gone. If we need more of a percentage increase to continue to close the gap of what was once had, is that really us getting more than others or is viewing it like that just a bit out of context?

Pilots have unique medical circumstances and criteria that no other work group has, but if we got "better medical" there would be cries to the high heavens about how unfair it is. Same for work rules and the regulations of flight and duty time.

The company constantly threatens us with that kind of stuff too. "Well if we gave you XYZ then every other group would want it" etc. Constantly. From pay to work rules to jumpseating (which I'm glad you guy's have now, is a benefit pilots singlehandedly created, fought for and paid dearly over decades to get...suddenly gets given away instantly to an entier industry of other work groups while management says "see what you guys did!") every "gain" we aim for, even if it isn't a gain at all but rather only a partial restoration of what was had previously, is "costed out" by the company as applying to the entire company, which of course usually makes almost any gain too costly to get and we are supposed to play within that little fenced off area of so called fairness to calm the masses.

The biggest thing I wish other work groups would concentrate on is scope. Forget "me too-ing" ours...go out and negotiate your own. "Every aircraft in the Delta holding company and/or that flies DL code in any fashion over 49 seats shall be flown by Delta seniority list FA's and crewed above and below the wing by Delta gate and ground agents, worked on by DL mechanics, dispatched by DL dispatchers, etc" or something like that.

Instead we spend the most negoating capital on trying to stem the mass outsourcing of our jobs (and yet still sometimes we blow it) while no other group does nearly the heavy lifting we do yet all take for granite that whatever "Delta" flies will be crewed by their work group's seniority list after the pilot group locks in the scope of their contract. We've already let the company outsource thousands of your jobs to SkyWest, ASA, the Republic "air group" and many others. That was 100% us. Whatever we decide to allow them to outsource is gone from you as well. That's what you should be marching into their offices about.

Again, don't take offense to what he said or how he said it. He's just trying to pre-empt one of the oldest and most tired moves in management's labor busting playbook. The company will likely, as companies always do, especially airlines, use internal and external lines of communication to rile everyone up against us as one more pressure point in the court of public opinion. They always pull that play. I don't think I've ever seen it not happen. Same old move, and a move that, justifiably, gets under our skin a bit.