Now from a frined of mine: What they really said.
May 13, 2012
To the 2% that still listen to us:
We still pretend to work with ALPA to reach a JCBA. WHY AREN’T YOU SATISFIED WITH THAT!!!??? Mediation has been working great for us for many years now, and has saved us a boatload of cash over the years. Our goal is a contract that leaves you far behind industry standard and allows us to pay Jeff and the rest of us the $MILLIONS that is fair to us, since we are always doing the “hard work” and you just sit there in the cockpit. To us, fairness means forgetting about all those pay cuts you took in bankruptcy, or that half your jobs were outsourced to UAEX & Star Alliance.
What is soon? Contracts are very complicated with lots of words and stuff. So we’re thinking 2018 is soon. 2017 is sooner. 2016 is really soon. Consensus just can’t be rushed when you’re in our position...
We announced long ago that the mediator had scheduled negotiating dates through mid-June. Now that you’ve convinced Pierce & Moak to go along with the request for NMB release, we now blame you for thinking we would actually negotiate ANYTHING by mid-June. How dare you try to hold us to what we say! We run negotiations like a creeping mechanical delay...just keep jerking everyone around as long as WE WANT...always 90 days away from a contract. Oops, I think we just proved ALPA’s point to NMB that we never really intended to negotiate in good faith...doesn’t anyone proof-read our letters before we publish them???
Better try to salvage this!!! Lets repeat the same tired lines that we’ve been putting out for years. We’ve got the right people at the table all right, haha! Did we mention the boatload of cash they’ve saved us?
We view the request to be released premature because we still have years of wordsmithing to do on the scheduling section! Plus its going to take more time to convince you that OUR definition of a fair contract is good for you. BTW why don’t you show up at Jeff’s CEO Exchanges anymore so he can educate you?? We are just so hurt, and bitter and can’t help whining. We don’t understand how you could actually want our negotiation theatre show to come to a close. You know if you talk about going on strike that will upset us, and make us write more letters like this instead of negotiating?
Since it might cut into our bonuses, we cannot admit that a release from negotiations would actually increase the chance of a joint collective bargaining agreement. HOW DARE YOU ASK FOR THIS? HOLY-CRAP! WE MIGHT HAVE TO GET SERIOUS!
We thank you for your FEDERAL COURT MANDATED professionalism and your strong self-preservation instinct that keeps you from crashing in spite of our willy-nilly changes and lack of training.
Sincerely,
Fred Abbott and Howard Attarian