Originally Posted by
El10
For those that think we are being “played” help me understand what the theory is. Is it that you think they are still negotiating for items at the table and this is a joint cover up by the company, JNC, SME and MEC Chairmen and we really don’t have any sections that are in agreement? Or is it that the JNC is writing to much language and just wanting this to be a 1000 page document just to kill time? Or is it the MEC is holding this up so that it comes out once we know who will be the POTUS?
Or is it simply that we have had countless grievances that our side believes we need crystal clear language for all the agreed to terms? With a joint contract like this that will have no history behind it. Consider it as our first ever contract. Any grievance will have to depend on the language inside this agreement, no falling back to either L-CAL or L-UAL past practice. This was what we signed up for by not taking a pre existing contact and expanding upon it.
Look at this way it’s been 80 days since they agreed to the terms of the deal. Let’s say we have 6 guys putting 10 hour days with no breaks 7 days a week writing language on this thing. If they really only had to work on 12 of the sections and that was 400 pages. You are assuming that each page of the contract had 12 hours of time spent on it. That’s drafting, cross referencing other sections to not change intent, meet with the company’s lawyers, debate the changes, redraft, rinse and repeat more than likely 3 or 4 drafts. That’s around 3 hours per draft. Now being a little more realistic let’s assume they took one day off for every six days worked and with some breaks in the day for normal human functions they only put in 9 hours of work a day that’s down to 9:30 per page.
What do you think is a reasonable time to draft a page of a legal document? How much time of these 80 was acceptable to doing so and how much do you feel was spent on “games”?
I for one am glad we took this approach. From previous negotiations when attempting to negotiate language and terms at the same time slowed the process down and you had to negotiate verbiage to try to get your intent equally as you where trying to get the terms you wanted. This way you have the intent already agreed to easier to get the full language you want. Another issue is in long negotiations when the environment you are negotiating in changes and language will not be consistent from when you started until you finish. All of this again creates a difficult process for grievances to end in the satisfaction of the grievant.
Amazing that those that are ready to vote this down and send it back to get more because “its” not enough and willing to wait for the right deal. Yet these same people are not willing to wait for the right language.
The update below is from January 2011, there are many other updates like it claiming that final language on the already agreed sections are being worked on in parallel. Read the red bold letters that I Put in HL.
To now claimed that final language only started after Aug 2 this year is not true.
Special MEC Meeting Scheduled Next Week
The United MEC has scheduled a special meeting for Thursday, January 13 and Friday, January 14 in Chicago to receive updates from MEC Chairman Captain Wendy Morse, MEC Vice Chairman Captain Garry Kravit and MEC Secretary-Treasurer Captain Joseph Genovese. The MEC also will receive updates from the MEC Negotiating Committee, and discuss other merger-related items.
The meeting is expected to be conducted in closed session.
MEC Negotiating Committee Update
We have received numerous inquiries from both pilot groups on the status with negotiations. Therefore, the JNC wants to use this week’s update to give its view from 35,000 feet.
As you recall, the Company presented the JNC with a comprehensive JCBA proposal on October 27, 2010. The JNC presented Management with our comprehensive counter proposal on December 15, 2010. On December 17, 2010, ALPA and the Company filed a joint application for mediation with the National Mediation Board (NMB) as provided for in the T&PA (Transition and Process Agreement). Given the time of year of that filing, the NMB would not have the time to engage in mediated negotiations with us on our contract. They did, however, assign a mediator to our case. The mediator assigned by the NMB is Jim Mackenzie. Prior to joining the NMB, Jim completed 31 years as a commercial pilot for a number of major airlines, retiring from Northwest Airlines in 2006 as an Airbus Captain. Following retirement, Jim was a Captain B-777/787 Instructor pilot for Alteon, a Boeing Company and an aviation consultant.
Jim’s labor relations experience included 30 years working in various positions for the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). During his career with the airlines, Jim served as Chairman of the NWA Pilot Retirement and Insurance Committee and served as a member of the NWA Unsecured Creditors Committee. His extensive labor relations experience also includes being elected to the Master Executive Council of Braniff International Airlines, Co-Chairman of the Peoplexpress Pilot Merger Committee and serving on various ALPA committees at the local and national level.
That brings us into 2011. We have not yet heard from the NMB regarding initial meetings with them so that they can be briefed on the current status of our negotiations. Of course, there is no prohibition against negotiating without the mediator present, and we have informed Management that we are available to do so at any time. The JNC made the last pass so the ball is in Management’s court. As far as future negotiations are concerned, we anticipate hearing from the NMB soon regarding the scheduling of mediated sessions. Once we do, we will be better able to estimate a timeline for the negotiations.
In the interim, your JNC is working on contract language for the six sections on which we already have Agreements in Principle (AIP). This language will be passed back and forth with the Company in a language drafting subcommittee, as will the remaining sections once their general terms are agreed to, until the parties can agree on the full language contract Tentative Agreement (TA) that will ultimately be sent to the MEC and then to the members for consideration.
As always, please stay connected to the process by reading updates from the MEC and your local council representatives.