Mitch R:
"call their bluff. We pilots are not under any timelines to complete this merger"
First Bobline is almost right in that there is only a top dollar amount any company can afford to pay and finding that amount is part of the art of negotiations.
Now I will also guess you are a CAL pilot and not real senior, one who can benefit from a contract being drug on into the future. Now let me ask, why did pilots vote to strike? Certainly not to drag this negotiations on much longer, we want a contract now! Guess what? Yours and my negotiators, with the help of the NMB, have gotten us a contract agreement. Now it is up to the MECs (which probably have known a lot of the details for quite a long time) to pass it on to their constituents to vote for.
Here's something else I perceive, If the TA is voted yes on by the MECs I'll bet you and many others will have a cow about them sending such a "substandard" product for the ignorant and no guts pilot population to vote on.
Relax you will get to vote and that is the limit of the power you and I have. If you want to have a bigger say run for election and represent us tough talking gutless pilots before your fellow MEC members.