Im going to use AA's non section 6 "negotiations" as an example, although our situation is far better than theirs. AA's BOD (MEC equivalent) rejected managements "last best final offer" 3 times before the last one went to vote. Each time the offer came back with an additional carrot. If you remember, the first thing management had to remove from the offer was their insanely bad scope language. They tried to throw a ridiculous scope concession in there and it was immediately rejected. At any rate, AA pilots did not "Win" overall, since it wasn't even section 6 and a mandatory arbitration date was coming rapidly. However, they did not fall for the trick of taking the first offer and the deceptive and dangerous language of that first offer. So in essence, they minimized the pain of a mandated jcba by rejecting some pretty important concessions.

Our situation looks even better. We don't have mandatory arbitration. We're in section 6. We have 6 more months, then another 3 before we even file for mediation. We say no until we're fully satisfied with the language. For most of us unfortunately that's just a few tweaks here and there. We're not going to win a massive victory here, since expectations have already been lowered. We're just going to establish a line in the sand that they will know not to cross. It will be huge for us even keeping the QOL concessions that are on the table right now. Very attainable, very reasonable. Worth waiting for the pay raises.