My observations:
Pilot unity is crucial, especially when negotiating a contract. Its management's job to divide and conquer the pilot group. These guys:
Ford & Harrison, Labor and Employment Law Firm specialize in that and one of the founding members of the firm is on the Delta BOD. As someone who has been through a union drive to get ALPA representation, I can tell you pitting one group against another is their specialty...Reserve, line-holder, Small base vs large, widebody vs narrow, senior vs junior, North vs South, ALP vs DPA are all distractions that help reduce our resolve and lessen our chances for the best contract possible. We are all Delta pilots, lets have each other's back.
The girls wil help the manly-men and the manly-men will help the girls...
The manning formula is like catastrophic emergency insurance. Its good to know it's there, you hope to never use it because things will have really gone to hell when it kicks in. What exactly does the 60 hrs average/ reserve in the manning formula looks like:
Let's say it's a particularly busy summer flying season, a reserve averages 90 hrs for the three summer months June, July and August. That's 270 hrs cumulative for the three months. Using the formula of 60/reserve average, staffing would only increase if the same reserve averaged 50 hrs for the remaining 9 months of the year:
60 x 12 = 720 annually
90 x 3 = 270
50 x 9 = 450
Total 720
As you see the three months in summer just don't really impact the manning formula, which is why the other limits in the PWA are so crucial. Taking days-off away from when you're swamped in June and August and redistributing them to the months where there is little flying just isn't a gain in QOL no matter how you spin it...
Adding a day of SC is a concession, especially if the inequity of the 24 hr short-call for international reserves will be patched by the upcoming FTDT regs. Remember the reduction from 8 to 6 short-call days in 2008, was presented as a key accomplishment of the JCBA according to TO and LM (NNP 08-03 & From the Chairman June 3, 2008)
Ask yourself this: why would Delta ask for the changes to reserve rules as presented in the NNP if it would have no effect on staffing, reserve schedules and green-slips? Delta plans on using the new higher limits or they wouldn't have asked for them, isn't that self evident? It would be like pilots asking the company for higher pay but suggesting that not everybody would be drawing the new higher amount.
As I said before: The changes to the reserve rules have a potential to have an adverse impact on staffing, availability of premium flying and reduce the protections in the current PWA that help put a lid on how far a reserve can be pushed during a busy period.
If the negotiation also produce increases in vacation and bring any sheduled non-flying activity into the ADP formula much of the potential adverse impact on reserves can be mitigated while getting gains for all pilots regardless of bid-status. I am awaiting the forthcoming NNP that might detail exactly those changes...
Cheers
George