Originally Posted by
Bucking Bar
Lee Moak and Tom Wychor would surely tell you they believed this deal to be best for the Pinnacle pilots and was aimed at avoiding a cessation of operations, as members had suffered at Comair. (If true, this more indicates a lack of strategic planning and situational awareness than malice).
I agree with your point that it is likely Pinnacle concessions were, at some level, an agreement which cross collateralized mainline bargaining. After all, didn't Pinnacle get some of the jets allowed in DAL C2012's expansion of 76 seat flying?
As for scope, I believe Pinnacle's pilots have a commitment to fly a certain fleet at Pinnacle/Endeavor. I fully support your scope and believe the end state goal of ALPA should be the end of alter-ego. I don't question the qualifications of pilots who merge. The scope benefits of a merger outweigh the debate over qualifications. Understand, if we merged, I would not take issue with whether someone had bothered to get a degree ... they aren't being hired; they are being acquired.
JMHO
Some of us toward the bottom aren't so happy either. I don't have a particularly special degree, but I did earn a 4 year "B.S." and now I can't apply to Delta as an outside candidate unless I'd like to quit my job. I have to wait for the SSP to interview and potentially hire all of the "not normally qualified" candidates that sit above me on the list. Then I have to wait until there is a vacancy, upgrade (hopefully, cart not before the horse), and sit out a 1 year seat lock before making it to the stack of SSP guys getting a call to interview. We all know that the job is not guaranteed, that your prep can make or break you, but there is still a certain amount of luck involved in the whole process.
No offense to the guys who missed, or chose to sit out the previous hiring cycles, but I have had my application in at Delta since I finally earned the minimum qualifications. Now, as a 6+ year FO making $37 an hour, I still have to wait, even longer.
I am using this time to build upon the qualifications that I have control over, but time is not our friend.
Would Delta call me in, if I were not in this "privileged" few who were, through collective bargaining, given a seat at the interview table in exchange for dollars? I don't know. I would like to think so.
So, BB, despite the negatives of the agreement, just know that there are folks that are "in line" who meet or exceed the qualifications required by Delta Air Lines to interview (and become employed should they be successful at the table). We look forward to impressing the hiring department and joining the "big leagues".
Meanwhile, we will, for the most part, do our best being a contract carrier for a single major airline. All I know is Delta passengers, gate agents, schedules, procedures, etc...
