Originally Posted by
REF 5
Interesting you would call management hostile.
And yet, I didn't.......
They would tell you that it was just a game of section 6 negotiations. I think you guys have a long way to go before the tipping point. By that time you will have a TA. I think the hard part is getting everybody on board. This time it's different. When your growing their are a lot of things that a pilot group is willing to overlook in a CBA. Poor QOL issues fix themselves because everybody is moving up. Now we have no growth. Make no bones about it, SWAPA will tell you whatever deal they strike with management it will "give the tools necessary to grow the airline". Senior CAPT/senior FO/junior CAPT/junior FO/ and Airtran pilots are going to want certain QOL issues addressed. When your a no growth company those QOL are more intense. Especially guys knowing they are going to be on reserve for years. You want a contract that will pass by 80%. But 50%+1 will do. That's what management is shooting for. The bottom 12% in each domicile(you guys have a lot)better have something in it for them. If you sacrifice them for a small raise they may revolt. Just my 2 cents.
Preaching to the choir man.
You are actually bargaining in a position of strength IMO.
Except for the whole SWApA/Lemming thing, you're correct.
They are making money and you are the highest paid 737 pilots. What they want and what they need are different. It's not like the airline's finances are shambles and SWAPA needs to pitch in. All wants and no needs.
Unfortunately, none of this has EVER mattered to SWApA or the Lemmings. When we extended a concessionary contract, solely to preserve the stock options for the ND40, while every other group was making huge gains, we were "different", and the Lemmings bought it.
One road that MVDV/GK and Babbitt may go down is mediation. Babbitt has been down this road before. It's just another day at the office. When you were the head of ALPA and the FAA you know the game very well and it's players. NMB is a friend to management. Always has and always will be. If they decide to file I think SWAPA will have a bigger problem. This is where unity is a must within the group.
Yup, and that's where it fall apart. unity has never been SWApA's strong point.
Two biggest provisions that SWA wants is PBS and scope/code share. Those are BIG issues. If your asking for raises/B-fund/ and better reserve to keep up with your peers, then management will ask for those provisions that those peers already have. It's hard to make an argument(SWAPA) in front of a mediator that they want all of that and not willing to give on some scope/PBS. Since 99% of airlines have a more liberal scope and PBS it will be hard to get out of that. It's a two way street and a negotiation. I've seen this game before. It's exactly how CAL,UAL,NWA,Usair and many other's got it. Scope has been going on now for 20 years and it's something that will not go away. Hopefully by that time the membership will be strong and behind SWAPA 100%. Time will tell.
All it will take for PBS/Codeshare to pass will be an offer to "improve" the discretionary flying part of the contract to benefit the 1%ers (the mega senior who benefit from POT, which is the only thing the Lemmings seem to care about), and the promise of "growth". A few will gripe, but in the end, our group will trip over themselves voting YES for it.
That said, I think PBS, and to a lesser extent, codeshare, are red herrings. They are trying to get us to expend negotiating capital on it, like last time. PBS will kill our legendary productivity, and GK knows it. They might want some "good" codeshare, which is likely the reason the "The Smartest Man In The Room" is talking it up recently.