According to the official IBT release, it appears this meeting was fully pre-briefed and sanctioned by IBT leadership and legal. I'm told both welcomed the opportunity to have a union rep speak directly to MG. If MG is finally seeing the light and reaching out to get input from sources other than his 'yes men', particularly one of our fully briefed union officials, then that's probably a good thing. If not, nothing is lost. I don't know about you, but if "productive and fruitful exchanges" between us and the top brass will avoid the 8 year disaster between IBT pilots and Republic, I'm all for it. If 2 years of not talking has brought us this (negligible) 'progress', talking certainly can't hurt. We haven't paid IBT a dime yet, I'm not sure their current level of commitment would last 8 years. Neither would our volunteers, I'm sure.

I don't see any ties or reversions to the past. It doesn't appear any negotiations took place, but even if they had, unlike before, no contract can even be ratified without the full consent and vote of the membership. Reading the letter, this was nothing more than a frank discussion about "...progress of negotiations, staffing, scheduling, maintenance reliability, the HOM base, pilot morale…. unrealistic growth plans with inability to attract/retain qualified pilots….(inadequate) compensation, quality of life and job security….heightened need to accelerate a competitive contract". All topics I'm quite pleased MG is getting directly from IBT. SPC's role is to give our negotiator's better footing at the bargaining table, that shouldn't be limited to one side of the table.

IBT has been hoping for direct meetings between IBT and MG, particularly our negotiating committee. Perhaps this is a first step in the right direction. JMHO