The lions share of "money" that is lost will be the first year bribe that's paying for the asked for concessions to pay for that bribe, so yes cash is lost, but in exchange for the lost cash, work rules are retained. Snapshot 2017 for reference;
Based solely on the present MTA provisions (arbitrated pay), the 12-year Group II captains rate will be from lowest to highest (approx.), United - $224/hour, AA - $230/hour, Delta - $240/hour.
That's $10/hour less then Delta, but $6/hour more then United, so we'd be in the middle AND Parker doesn't get his work-rule grab. That's hardly a disaster in my book. Snapshot 2019 for reference;
Still based solely on MTA provisions and assuming a 5% increase for Delta, the 12-year Group II captains rate will be from lowest to highest (approx.), United - $224/hour, AA - $236/hour, Delta - $249/hour. Our pay rate lags Delta's now by $13/hour, but also increases over United's by $12/hour. United's contract isn't even amendable until 2017 and you can expect AT LEAST a 3-5 year kabuki dance on that, so we'll still have generally our present Green Brook provisions and be in section 6 ourselves when United is still mired in theirs, only in a better position both contractually and concurrently due to two of the three legacy carriers in negotiations at the same time AND Delta the new industry leader and benchmark for competitive compensation. I LIKE that scenario !!!
As it stands now, well........that's debateable. From a pay
RATE perspective, yes, but from a PRESENT work rule perspective, not necessarily. Arbitration will result in initial loss of a bribe that requires it be paid for in other areas, but long-term, arbitration appears more beneficial and at least both denies the bully another successful (and long-standing) round of bullying (not to mention lying) and lets investors, customers and the media know that Parker lied to them as much as us and had no intention of correcting the labor problems at this carrier, a condition that he even admitted was a major reason it was competitively hamstrung against its rivals. He'll also know (as well as the others) that he'll have the backs of the majority of 15,000 pilots turned against him going into the future. The only certain exception to that is 66, who will certainly be there to throw rocks at the rest of the pilots who cheated him out of his immediate financial orgasm. Going forward, the Green Book should essentially remain intact denying Parker his spoils and in 2016 we make less the Delta pilots, but more than United pilots and in 2019 while UAL is almost certainly slugging out their pilots contract, we'll join the party with certainly no less and possibly even greater leverage and argument.
You can be assured that many of us ARE putting emotion, fear and yes, even greed in the form of immediate gratification aside and using rationale to formulate the best assessment of this situation. Jumping greedily at tainted money is the choice of certain road kill, but that carcass is only concerned with itself and minimizing the plethora of blue bottle flies amassing on it while it bakes in the sun. I have no interest in sacrificing myself or best interests for Parker or rotting road kill and it would be wise to think about the situation free of the self-serving empty pleas of both.