Originally Posted by
DAL 88 Driver
A plan cannot be developed until the objective is set. I would start with setting the objective of restoring our contract so that our compensation and work rules provide a standard of living comparable to what Delta pilots experienced in the 1980's though early 2000's time frame. I would communicate this objective clearly so that all concerned (line pilots, management, Wall Street, etc.) are aware of it. Accompanying this would be a lot of material showing exactly how much of a hit we've taken over the past decade, how much it would take to restore our compensation going forward, and how little pilot costs actually are in the grand scheme of things. Might not hurt to show how other employees (especially management) have mostly or even completely recovered (and in some cases even exceeded) their buying power from 10 years ago. What is DALPA's objective? Do you even know? Do any of us even know??
BTW, I don't disagree with you about not focusing solely on pay rates. Whatever it takes to increase the W2. Pay rates, work rules, or some combination of the two. Bottom line is that our compensation needs about a 50% boost for our buying power to be fully restored. That might be a little steep, given how much of a hole DALPA has dug us into over the past decade by acting like bankruptcy level compensation is the new normal and we're just happy for ANY improvement to that. So I might could agree to Jerry's 20% (to W2, not necessarily just pay rates) on day one... as long as the subsequent years of the contract provided some pretty significant improvements as well.
There are a couple of problems with your statements. The first is that no other employee groups at Delta are close to the buying power they once had. In fact you could make that statement about the entire industry. We do have some employee groups making the same hourly wage however that's a small part of the story. Their retirement went from a 60% FAE plan to a 6 % DC plan. Large employee segments were moved to part time. Other groups simply had their jobs eliminated or moved to DGS.
The second is stating how little we cost. Pilot costs have historically run from 6 to 10 percent of the cost to produce our product. You will not find anyone who has ever run a business call that little especially in view of the fact this is a industry with many fixed costs.
When you start this campaign management will simply state that Delta pilots are the best compensated pilots in the US passenger airline industry. The rest will fall to the NMB. What is your plan for them.