Originally Posted by
NuGuy
They need to defend it because the same process is going to be used for the FT/DT spin when that LOA is floated.
Plus it's politically embarrassing when you spend a lot of time and effort trying to spin the fact that your work rules concessions arn't going to cause 300 surplus pilots, when it's pretty obvious that it will, and then have management come out and say "yea, the new rules gave us a 300 pilot surplus".
That complicates the spin control down the road.
We went from a big AE for the RMA, and when that didn't happen, it morphed into a little one followed by a "big one in October", which has now been downsized into "backfill and cleanup", and now we"re hearing that some categories are fat, and more displacements could be in the works.
How much more "good news" is on the way?
I thought it was fairly explicit that some items were concessionary, and I thought it was pretty clear that the initial staffing result was expected to be roughly neutral. I think it was also fairly explicit that, without letting them be tied to a number, the reps suggested there would be a need for a lot of pilots in the near future assuming the company can stick to the plan. I don't see new elements to justify a departure from the plan, but since we don't have deliveries until later next year, I don't think we can excited until we get into 2013.
Still, I agree with much of your post above, especially since I fear we might be unhappy with the FTDT results. I say this because we haven't been polled on what we might or might not be willing to trade for what might or might not be on the table. I'm also concerned that a very significant agreement, which the reps acknowledged would be an oportunity to further negotiate, might be implemented without MEMRAT. I have no info that this will be the case, so I might just be paranoid, but I don't have a great feeling about the FTDT outcome yet.
I'll be glad to be proven wrong, and I imagine you feel the same way?