Originally Posted by
shiznit
To me, that looks like a nice chunk of leverage when we threaten to take the labor peace off the table...
Don't want to burn that leverage too early or it becomes an empty threat that won't have an effect on the enterprise/stock price (I.e. APA's last 12 years), before C2012 almost all our peers were well behind us (roughly 14.5% average below) the company was still pretty deep in debt, and we were still only marginally profitable. Going to torches and pitchforks then would not have yielded a result. By gaining an additional 12.84% it broke the mold considerably.
Playing "nice" and jumping to a 25-30% lead was smart, IMO. That helped UAL make 25-40% gains and AMR to have to pull and renegotiate a better Ch11 contract. Now that we have UAL edging ahead us in 2016, AMR set to average off of us and UAL in 2016(the rest of their contract is in bad shape though), LCC gone, a company with a much lower debt structure and massively more profitable we stand to get the level of compensation you and I both think we deserve (I want the QOL too!)
Playing nice last time gave mgt a talking point, and them saying that to the investment community just gave us a bigger hammer. I don't think Donatelli and Morgado are afraid to use it.
Will the pilot group rally behind them and give them the big nail of pilot unity as the other necessary leverage point? I'm going to do my part, I hope you will too.
Totally missed my point. By spending the past 10 years acting like we don't expect restoration, we've set expectations that are going to be more difficult to undo than had we set more appropriate expectations from the beginning. We've also set precedents that work against us.
I'm not saying it can't be done. Just saying that DALPA's "proactive engagement" went too far and ultimately has hurt us in our quest to restore our profession and our careers.
Will Donatelli and Morgado use any leverage? I have no idea. I don't even have any idea what it is they are trying to accomplish. Is it restoration? Or is it some nebulous objective where any improvement can be spun as having suceeded? Only the future will tell, but past experience with the Lee Moak disciples would suggest it won't be anything like restoration. They certainly aren't saying anything at this point that would indicate a restorative objective.
Hope I'm wrong. I look forward to being wrong! And, yes, if I start seeing that we're pursuing the restoration of our profession and our careers, I'll be 100% on board. In the meantime, you guys have some serious credibility repair that needs to be done.