Originally Posted by
DAL 88 Driver
I think I was pretty clear in one of my earlier posts today that the situation has changed at SWA. As I understand it, they have effectively taken a pay cut because a lot of the premium pay opportunities have dried up for them.
Yes you were, (well done, btw) and yes they have. Yet, there has been no change to their contract itself. The reduction in overall $$$ per time away from home was purely driven by the context of their staffing levels.
Originally Posted by
DAL 88 Driver
But as I said before, in 2012 the "SWAPA infomercial" data WAS relevant. It was a data point showing arguably our biggest domestic competitor at the time with pilots making substantially more than our pilot doing the same type of flying. It was a data point that could have been used to help bolster our argument that our pay no longer needs to be based on bankruptcy and needed to be boosted significantly (a heck of a lot more than 4833). DALPA refused to use this. In fact, they not only refused to use it, they tried to sweep it under the rug.
Because of the very fact that its context was not included -- the fact that they were presently making this kind of money because of their staffing levels, money that was in no way guaranteed by their contract. Take Delta's staffing levels down to that level consistently and across the board and you'll see a similarly substantial inflation of our compensation from what is guaranteed under the PWA.