Originally Posted by
tsquare
Nope. I want more pay. I am willing to take risk, but only if that risk makes sense. Just saying no, "because we already gave and now it's time for payback", is not necessarily a viable strategy IMHO. It could be, but I could also not be.
It's a position, not a strategy. Specific strategies have to be developed once the objective (position) is set. Clearly, we already gave and we already gave A LOT! Either we expect to be restored or we don't. Based on most of your statements here (and on just about everything DALPA has said and done in the past 8 years or so), you/DALPA do not expect to be restored.
And, BTW, I don't even expect to be fully "paid back." That would involve all the compensation I missed out on for the past 10 years while our pay has been drastically cut. I estimate that, with the pay cuts, loss of pension, and loss of advancement due to outsourcing... each of us has contributed an average of at least $1 million each already. Nobody (including me) is asking for that back. All I'm suggesting is that we should have our compensation restored
going forward. I think, given the extremely generous contribution we've all already made, that is more than reasonable.
Originally Posted by
tsquare
An interesting part of your argument is the part about being a part of free market capitalism. That we are. But YOU well know also that in order for there to be a market, someone has to buy and someone has to sell. Works with stocks (DAL pushing $35/share.... YEAH BABY, YEAH!) and it works with contract negotiations, hence my statement that everything is negotiable. However, there is no place in the free market for hostage taking. (And what is really interesting is that it is we that would be taking ourselves as hostage) If you can give me a good reason to say no, I will be on board. But I have to see an end strategy. Just saying no until the company capitulates is stupid, because it completely ignores TVM, and even you believe in that or else you wouldn't be working options on the first of the month. If that makes me risk averse, then so be it. And you gotta get rid of TC and the doughnuts. Sorry. That divisiveness has to go because it will never unite the bigger group. YMMV
Leverage is used to advance in business all the time. It is a significant part of the free market. Happy, motivated employees are one of the most, if not THE most, important assets to any company. Delta cannot accurately judge whether they are compensating us appropriately if our representatives make it seem like we're fine with the way things are. And if they think we're good now, imagine how much better we'd be (and how much potential there would be for even greater bottom line results) if the vast majority of us felt that our compensation was reflective of our true value and that we were not being taken advantage of just because they can. Now that doesn't affect me, because that's my work ethic. But I can guarantee you that I've flown with plenty of pilots over the years that have most definitely been affected by this. Delta has no idea how much better our already excellent pilot group could be. And the reason they have no idea is because DALPA has shielded them from reality.