Originally Posted by
forgot to bid
BTW, where do the plethora of DALPA guys on this board stand on this? They can't be happy with this whole Pinnacle thing? Or that LM signed a deal without DALPA?
.
Not a DALPA guy but here is my take.
Pinnacle has been in negotiations for almost a year now. Pinnacle attended the scope meeting as required in the Admin manual, I think that meeting occurred in February or March 2012 (if the date is wrong forgive me, but it was close to that). At that meeting the scope goals were:
- Reduce the share of Delta flying done by DCI carriers
- Increase the share of Delta flying done by mainline pilots
- Provide employment help for pilots who are affected by 1 and 2 above
The Pinnacle agreement complies with the scope goals that we mutually agreed to at that meeting. The admin manual does not require joint negotiations or new meetings every time a new proposal is made. I know that once we had our meeting the next time any other carrier heard about our deal was when we had a TA. Please note that the admin manual gives each MEC the right to negotiate their own deal. That was a provision that Delta pilots insisted on to ensure that we always had control over our own fate. Yes, the DPA talking point is truly just a bunch of hooey.
Take a minute to look at the sunset provisions in the Pinnacle bridge agreement. Those provisions mean that there will be no logical restrictions to what we can negotiate in the future given the commitments that Delta has for financing and CPA flying. No one really thinks that Delta could buy 40 CRJ-900's in 2013-14 and then get rid of them in 2015, right?
In the end the bridge agreement doesn't represent any restrictions on us eliminating all RJ's. If Delta wants to get rid of all CRJ's they will have to buy their way out of numerous CPA and financing agreements. Buying their way out this bridge agreement (remember the sunsets) would represent a teeny, teeny fraction of that cost. Just to put things in perspective, the entire yearly pilot contract for 800 Pinnacle pilots would be less than the cost of a few CRJ-900 aircraft. (no offense intended to Pinnacle pilots, it is just a fact of math)
I understand everyone's concern, I would reread the bridge agreement and try to put those sunset provisions in context of what is reasonably possible to achieve in a short time frame and then decide whether this represents a threat or not. Happy New Year.