I don't care how long it takes to make the appropriate changes.

This is the contract of my career.

I have over 23 years to go here. I can wait 23 days, 23 weeks, or whatever it takes to do the right thing.

This isn't another one of those "sign it before midnight or the glass slipper is broken" kind of contracts. Remember the emerency liquidity shortfall and bankruptcy possibilities that had us negotiate and sign a concessionary contract in 2 weeks for POS 02? Never again.

This is simply business and thats it. We do business right, or we shouldn't be doing it at all. This is just dollars and sense. So far, this company owes me over 250K in back wages the loans I have given to management. I want what is owed to me, and I want reasonable job protections, and to work in a profession that has honor, dignity, and respect. Forward movement up the career ladder can be both tangible and non tangible, but we need to be monetarilly remunerated for what we have done to keep this airline alive and now profitable.

In 20 years I hope I can be a wide body captain, but that will only happen if the career path keeps getting the profession moving in the right direction. RJ's, more RJ's, bigger RJ's, and RJ's with more range, is akin to a graveyeard spiral for this profession. It's a Grandslam for management as they put more bonus money in their pockets at our expense and continue to fly the same routes with cheaper labor. If you can lower your seat cost per available mile by getting pilots to fly from Chicago to New Orleans on a bigger RJ due to lower wages, then you can just put that money right in your pocket.

Crazy..........RJ's keep getting bigger, and our take home checks (buying power) keep getting smaller. The last 10 years have been pretty sukkey. Look at the Legacy's that have led to this: Lorenzo, Tilton, Ornstein, and now Smizek. It's all about cutting the legs from underneath your pilots. They can't buy fuel smart, so they cut their pilots pay.

Oil refineries for everyone, but that's another topic...