Originally Posted by
ATCsaidDoWhat
Packrat, it's time you face some hard realities. Yes, MEC's and NC's negotiate...but the do so with the financial axe of ALPA over their heads. If you don't take the deal ALPA wants you to take as they watch the $$ flow to the process, you get the "take the deal and go sell it to your people or we will have to "rethink" how we fund your MEC and commitees" speech. Don't waste your time telling me it doesn't happen, I've heard it face to face since the term of Hank Duffy. Just like he did when he rolled over on pee testing. What you don't understand is that no MEC or NC has any real power in terms of a contract. If you LOOK at the charter, you'll find that ALPA has the bargaining rights for every carrier. The Presidents signature isn't a "photo op"...he's the only one who can accept or reject a deal. And if he so chose, he could direct the negotiations and present the deal to a pilot group. To save the firestorm and keep the masses silent, he doesn't...but he DOES send "experts" to "assist." Unless you are a legacy with deep pockets that feed the ALPA coffers. Then you can go outside and hire your own and keep people like Cohen, Weiss and Surrender FAR away. (Which is a damn shame, because in the old days old man Weiss would have told folks like Prater and Moak where to shove it...but that's a different story.
Great post, except for this part. The President's signature should be more than a photo op, but under the current administration (Moak) it isn't. My current airline just finished negotiations and I'm certain he couldn't tell you a single thing about our contract. He won't know anything about it until one of his handlers hands him a bullet point version on the flight to Minneapolis.
What experts would those be? An accountant to cost out improvements? A young attorney? Don't think we saw any of those at Compass. Perhaps they're all tied up with their cash cows, UAL and DAL.