Changing my vote
My original intent was to vote yes for the LOA. I won't go in to a long list of why (because it isn't), but I have spent the past week reading all of the posts regarding this LOA in additional to what little information has come out of the Union and from the Company.
My initial yes vote was that I believed the LOA to be a slight improvement as compared with current language. Second, I felt that I could be hurting those that wanted to bid the FDA by Not Voting Yes and denying them the additional allowances. Third, I felt that the MEC and NC did its homework and due diligence in getting us this LOA. Lastly, and most importantly in my mind was that the company would use the failure of this LOA to pass as justification to hire "other"pilots to fill the vacancies in these FDA's.
With those concerns in mind, I will not vote for approval of this LOA and deal with the consequences that follow. I don't believe those 'consequences' are as bad as accepting this LOA in its present form.
To the NC: Improve this LOA and work the obvious faults. Work them as if you were going to actually bid to HKG and my bet is you may want to make some improvements. We should not make assumptions as to the outcome of a failed LOA as we did with the AGE 60 debacle.
To the MEC: If Asia and Europe is the growth for our company then lets make this LOA work for everyone involved and not begin to accept a standard far short of what we deserve or set the bar so low we all trip over it!