Originally Posted by
pagey
I don't think anyone here, ever, has said our contract is top of the industry. There is some good, and definitely some bad. This is true of every contract yes? Movable days off???? There isn't one bad thing in our contract I'd give away to get movable days off added.
This being said I want to ask 3 questions:
1. If our contract is sooooooo bad and is causing so much strife in current negotiations why haven't we been taking heat since April when we signed it? Everyone was congratulating us on getting a pretty good deal. Yes the caps suck, but pay is only one part of the total cost of a contract.
2. Why is it ok for everyone to "predict" the next 9/11, recession, industry downturn but its not ok for someone to "predict" a string of good, profitable years for airlines in general?
3. If these 30 acft are growth and they arrive in a reasonable time frame will this have been an acceptable gamble?
You seem to forget that while insurance premiums rise you are now taking on an even larger share of the premium, doesn't matter what your pay or rigs are since this will be coming off your bottom line. This can amount to more than 1k a year, also you guys changed your perdium and capped your pay. You are missing the whole point, if this contract was voted in by Eagle or Pinnacle while under Ch11 it would have been a cause for relief in the industry. But the problem is that you voted in this contract less than 6 months after you signed a new contract with some improvements, your company is making record profits, hard to find pilots and your company is estimating an increase win over 1billion in profits in the next 2-3 years. This is where the heartburn comes from, a profitable pilot group working for a profitable company takes concessions while everyone else is trying to improve their pay.
People have issues with the contract but the major heartburn is the principal.
I do agree that if you guys grow or even hold the same size with attrition new hires will likely not be affected by the cap, they will however be affected by not being able to adjust their contract for 10 years, increase in insurance premiums, and incase in COL. Don't forget that these caps and lower pay will be taken into account when the LCC and Legacy carriers renegotiate contracts. It's closer that you might think as Delta has 2 ½ years I believe, United has a little more, Spirit is coming up, JetBlue is flux and American is working on a new CBA.
The main problem with your contract was the principal of accepting concessions, forgoing future gains in exchange of the possibility of new airplanes while the company is making record profits and it's forecasting to increase them all the meanwhile they are re fleeting their regional feed.