Originally Posted by
ERflyer
Not by asking for more. Don't be ridiculous. By asking for an amount that no one would EVER agree to.
Like when you're negotiating to buy a house. You low ball and the other person just walks away. A true negotiating strategy is to ask for something that will clearly benefit you but so much as to totally sour the entire negotiations.
So let me ask you this, and I want an answer, not more sidestepping:
WHO gets to decided what is "Realistic" when we negotiate with the company?
Reality has to be shaped. Reality is, the pilot group gave unprecedented concessions in LOA 46 and 51 and lost their DB plan too, providing Delta with Billions to save the company. That is the REALITY.
Today, Delta is making unprecedented profits, and projecting more next year, LOTS MORE. That's realistic. We should be making lots more too, considering how many BILLIONS WE GAVE THEM.
The pilot group, the NMB, the Media, and most importantly, The COMPANY all need to be reminded exactly how much MONEY (real money, not TVM) this pilot group has contributed to Delta's unprecedented profits. They way to do that is to gen up the Family Awareness groups, talk to the media and the NMB, and make it clear to them all, that we expect to be RESTORED to Pre-Bankruptcy Pay and Benefit levels.
That is not an 'unrealistic' ask in my opinion, not if you show the math and show how much more Management is making today, and show Wall Street how much our stock is worth today and show the shareholders how much more they are making with all the dividends and stock buybacks propping up the price.
Restoration is realistic, but not if you don't ask. You can do it proactively, but you need to let Management know, we will not continue to play nice if we are not restored.
The minute RA said, "Labor risk has been totally taken off the table..." would have been a great time to remind him, no, it's not. We can do this the hard way, or we can do it the easy way.
RA can have a new contract tomorrow, all he has to do is write the check, and presto, no labor risk. But unless he sees that we are serious about this, why should he do that?