Originally Posted by
AlaskaBound
1). Huh? Anything average is unacceptable. Why is it ok for you to accept average? I really want to know. Do you not realize how much leverage the pilots have right now to gain ABOVE average gains? You seems way too comfortable with accepting average or around average.
2) That's an oxy moron and anyone in the regional group knows that.
3) This language is also in Endeavor's concessionary contract. Guess what's happening now? The airline came to the union and asked to create a co-domicile in LGA and JFK. Check out what's happening there now. I guarantee you the airline will use this vaguely written sentence in the contract and get what they want when they want it.
4) The new Compass contract was approved and now being implemented with "a large number of understandings of intent regarding such language that is recorded in the agreed upon record of joint bargaining notes between the parties" and guess what's happening now?...there are several very important parts of those "notes" that are being sent back to an arbitrator and being grieved. Management depends on vague language to have the ability to drag their feet on implementation and enforcement. Solid language is VITAL.
5). Again, why are you so happy that you're going for industry average? Now's the time to be innovative and get those protections! Be the first to get those protections and rise above the average. Raise the bar! Now's the time.
6). Again, historically average and what has been in the regional world. Premium pay not only puts a lot more money in our pockets...it also is an incentive for the airline to run an efficient operation.
7). Once again, eliminating this from the TA will force the company to run an efficient airline with proper staffing. Allowing this allows the company to run too lean and therefore strain the workforce. Take this out of the TA and the airline will be forced to hire more.
The TA is not average--it is at or above our peer group. What is remarkably good about the TA is just how significant the improvements in pay and workrules it contains in comparison to our current CBA. No matter how much we wish we were mainline pilots with their pay and working conditions, stop the self-dilusional rhetoric, WE ARE NOT. They fly for mainline carriers. We fly for regional carriers that are totally at the mercy of the mainline carriers. Until that paradigm shifts significantly, we will never be able to break out of the mold we are in. That shift will NEVER occur at the bargaining table--it can only occur in the halls of congress and the office of the regulators. Take this TA, and take it fast before management gets cold feet about paying us more than our peers. It is far and away the best overall agreement in our industry. I do not want to wait for 2 or three more years, not only to lose the gains imbedded in this TA during that time, but it is highly likely a subsequent TA would have less if the Eagle and XJT guys buckle. I am not comfortable letting them and ALPA control my destiny. Collectively, they created this "regional" mess in the first place.