Originally Posted by TonyC

The vote was in open session, and recorded, so it's far from secret. I'm told the Anchorage Rep was a bit confused about what exactly was being voted on and would have voted No had he understood. That would have made it 8 to 6. Understand, the vote was not to approve a TA, or send it to the membership for ratification. The vote was to have the Negotiating Committee convert the concepts they had achieved into actual CBA language that could be reviewed and then approved or disapproved as a TA.

Despite the fact that the MEC Chairman has informed the media we have a TA, that decision is up to the MEC, and it will be made next Wednesday. Then it will be up to them to decide how to use their vote. Will they approve of the deal only if they feel it's worthy of their full support and membership ratification? Will they "approve" of the process to send it to the membership to decide? The process has already been approved of -- the questions should be about the TA. (Many have done this in the past in an attempt to wipe their hands of the responsibility of tough decisions. "I don't know, even though I have access to more information than the line pilot, so I'll just toss it to them to decide.") Or will they "approve" the TA out of fear of threatened alternatives, which could include a "Pause" from the NMB Mediator? We cannot control what the Mediator decides -- we can only control what WE do, and we shouldn't rush into inferior deals out of fear of possibilities. We've come too far and waited too long to mess this thing up in the last 0.3 miles of the 26.3 mile marathon.

I'm of the opinion that the MEC should not pass to the membership for ratification any deal they cannot wholeheartedly support and defend. Don't become a tool of The Company to test the waters and "see if it will pass" by a slight margin. We deserve better, and we don't need to waste our time and resources playing that game.






Yepp. And LCAs, and SCAs, etc.






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