Originally Posted by
Scoop
Hockey,
I agree with you - the company really did hint, no not even hint, insinuate that we would hire if the TA was passed. Total BS and shame on anyone if that swayed their vote.
I voted yes and would vote yes again. Not because of BS Press releases by the company. I really cannot fathom that any DAL Pilot would actually vote one way or another based on anything that the company says it "might" do.
I have been on property since early 2000 and will never believe another word the company says about: future aircraft orders, RJs developing a market for Mainline growth, DAL being poised for (anything), or any future goodies that will appear if we will just do _________ .
I am not saying that these things will not happen - they might. But they will happen regardless of what we Pilots do. The company will buy aircraft when it is in its best interest of the company to buy planes. They will enter into codeshares, JVs, outsource, whatever - when it is in the best interest of the company to do so. That is what they are paid to do.
Anyone who votes one way or another because of what DAL management says they "might" do are fools. I don't think many of my fellow Pilots are fools. I think most guys weighed the Pros and Cons and voted accordingly. This is certainly what I did. FWIW the 717s are still coming, we will hire and probably hire more with this new contract. Did the company mislead us on their plans to hire? Only if we were foolish enough to believe them.
Scoop
Good points, but you couldn't look at the upgauging/scope part of the contract, base a yes vote on that, and NOT expect hiring to occur. The issue is timing. SD was not lying when he said he expected to hire. He went wrong with his non-commital comment about hiring as early as last year (the purpose of which was obvious). And I was wong when I guardedly trusted he was being forthright on the timing.
Sailing argued that the initial hiring would have been small, and was snuffed out by a small RMA and large mil leave return. Maybe. Either way you cut the numbers, the retirements are slow in ramping up, and the 717 deliveries were not immediate. So, even if I thought SD was accurate, I didn't think we would have a large wave of hiring until retirements and 717 deliveries were both really steady.
Unless there is another shell game hidden in there, it seems like they're just delaying the inevitable until they get to the almost unmanageable. Which would be SOP for airline hiring.