Originally Posted by Purpledriver

It was an interesting union meeting last night.....The MEC did a good job of explaining the LOA and why they thought is was good. They didn't say great. They were the first ones to say that they wanted more money. The short version is.....who do you want to do our international flying? This LOA doesn't need to pass to open these bases. They can just open them and have a bid. No extra money at all. They tried to tell everyone not to bid Subic when it opened.....it didn't work. Guys bid it anyway. Do you really think that our pilot group won't bid a base or take an upgrade just because DW says so? We can't even fix the *********$ that pick up disputed pairings in the first few minutes of open time. I think they are right that the "Just don't bid the base thing" won't work. There was a great deal of talk about international law and the question of if the RLA is still a valid law in these bases. DW made a point of saying that this LOA puts the RLA in play in both of these bases.....something we didn't get when Subic opened. That was a done via a lawsuit that was settled out of court....so it is still an open ended legal question of if the RLA applies or not. This LOA makes that happen. I could type more, but that am out / back has just about killed me.
Before anyone decides to vote yes or no, I would encourage you actually go to a meeting and get involved. I walked into the meeting a definite no and now I'm on the fence. BTW, I walked out of the ALPA meeting to a room of pilots wearing their pin but couldn't take the time to walk 50 feet and sit down and listen to the MEC present this thing....unsat