Originally Posted by First post of thread
"Sometime today, your LEC representatives will have finally been brought inside the super-secret veil of the TA. With highlighters and red markers (lots of them!) in hand, we are now focused on thoroughly scrutinizing every line of this career-changing document.
For the next week or so, we will spend just about every waking moment (and likely many non-waking moments) assessing the quality of this potential agreement, after which both MECs will separately but simultaneously vote whether to send the TA out to the pilot group at large. That vote will likely take place approximately one week from today, unless we need more time to deliberate.
As you know, the NMB and the MEC Officers are requiring that we not discuss the contents yet. We share your frustration and think that is inappropriate; nonetheless, in order to do to our job, we must reluctantly comply. Rest assured that we have heard your requests, demands, and sentiments, and we will act accordingly."
"Last week we sent out a blastmail stating that we had received the TA minus two LOAs. That blastmail started a small battle over semantics. Allow us to explain.
What we actually received was the TA minus all of the LOAs. Technically speaking a TA; is not a complete TA until it includes all LOAs, MOUs, notes written on napkins (as long as they are signed by all parties), etc. So, while the book that we were initially given is fashionably being called the;contract language; or;contract body; it was not the complete and official "TA".
Nonetheless, for the past few days, we have been studying the TA (*minus the LOAs), however we do not yet have the complete TA (including all LOAs). We did receive the bulk of those LOAs late yesterday, excluding the; Lump Sum; LOA (which is currently being drafted, following today's decision from the arbitrator). Once we get those, we will officially have an official TA and we will officially be studying the official TA.
Well almost.
Aside from the Lump Sum LOA, there are still two other LOAs that are time-dependent, and therefore will not be included in the TA until we are reasonably close to voting. But we are now close enough for all practical purposes (and to the satisfaction of the MEC) to call it a TA and to proceed with our education of the TA.
Semantics aside, in the interest of not rushing and to allow enough time for your representatives to thoroughly study the TA, the MEC has decided that we will postpone our TA Ground School until we have all the pieces of paper we need. We now anticipate beginning ground school tomorrow. Based on that start date, we anticipate finishing ground school over the weekend, and after a few days of deliberation, could conceivably be ready to vote in roughly 7-10 days from today.
Our brothers on the UAL MEC have chosen to commence their ground school already, and that is completely their choice. We commend them for being proactive and motivated to delve into this TA. They have also invited members of the CAL MEC to attend as well, and some have taken them up on their offer. We have also extended the same courtesy to them when we start our training. As mentioned above, we have an independent timeline that we will follow and we will not vote until every single CAL MEC representative is comfortable and ready."