What You Put Up With, You End Up With
What You Tolerate, You Give Permission To Exist



Part V
Your Decision: A Line in the Sand, or a CBA in Stone
I get it. Most of you are unhappy with this TA, which in my opinion ambushed your MEC just the same as it did you. When we saw it, my assessment was that while some on your MEC were satisfied, the rest of us—the majority perhaps—were either more ambivalent or said "Uh-oh, now what?," and saw two alternatives. One was to reject it immediately; the other was to pass it to you for your vote. Note that the MEC's resolution, which placed the TA into your hands, was not an "endorsement." There's subtle but important distinction in the wording.

You've been told that Armageddon looms if you vote "No," that Fred Smith will loose lightning bolts from a mountaintop in retaliation for your supposedly emotional and hoggish ways. Others have told you that voting "No" is an automatic win because Fred Smith will crawl on his knees and beg forgiveness just so that he can survive peak. Personally, I believe that thoughts of an automatic win on one extreme are as inappropriate as the fear mongering on the other. I believe that the truth, as usual, resides somewhere in the middle.

If you vote "No" then your MEC will have its marching orders. The negotiating chairman will possibly resign because, as he's said to me personally in the past, a failed TA means that his credibility with the company's negotiators and pilots alike will have taken a hit. The MEC will begin polling you immediately to find out what you liked or didn't like about the rejected TA, even as we are possibly engaged in selecting a new negotiating chairman. It's possible that we'd be re-engaged with the company before peak, but I think it's more likely to be January. We've paid into ALPA National's war chest for many years, and will likely draw from that war chest to continue the fight.

The rest is up to you, frankly. If you tell the MEC you'd rather wait one year than eight to fix this TA, if you give your MEC the orders to re-engage, then it will be your continued support that fuels the outcome. There may indeed be money available for an increased A-plan cap or for other retirement solutions as yet unexplored; Solutions that do not satisfy some pilots at others' expense. I believe there's money left on the negotiating table, but no MEC or negotiator can re-engage there on their own. It will require your solid backing on your part.

If you want to re-engage and are willing to support the effort, then your MEC and negotiators will lead from the front.
Fraternally,

DR
Block 1 Rep
Council 7 Chair
DR