In this ACMI world there are always going to be fluctuations in the demand for our services. That's just the way it works. The managers need to figure out how to deal with that. They can furlough if they make that decision. That is one of the options they have. They have many other options as well. Renegotiating our CBA should not be one of their tools for dealing with fluctuations in demand.

If the pilots want to renegotiate the contract because they are feeling pressure to be more competitive with pilot groups at other companies either inside or outside the corporation, we need to be honest about that and do it the right way. I don't have a problem with giving up some perks to be more competitive but let's make sure that we do it in a way that is open and above board.

This LOA just encourages the corporation to threaten more furloughs, which ends up putting the real pressure on the pilots at the bottom of the list. They have to live in constant fear while the more secure portion of the seniority list can decide whether or not they want to negotiate a magnanimous gesture to save the poor souls while pretending that we are not really giving anything up. There is an awful lot of pride in that.