Originally Posted by
Thor
Granted the aircraft manufacturer landscape has changed since 2012, here's the question:
If the company comes to ALPA requesting relief on the type of jet in Section One and offers to buy a boatload of new jets in exchange for the pay raise and work rule adjustments, do you go for it?
Fast forward to Section 6 when UAL pilots are looking for significant changes to the CBA (i.e. all areas, not just 5 bullet points), what leverage exists if the company has already solved scope choke? I know I sound like a broken record, but there is nothing in the pilot CBA restricting the company from adding new narrow body jets now - nothing! Section One limits on future RJ flying present SIGNIFICANT value to UA pilots in terms of job security and retaining "our flying".
I agree with you 1 million percent. Luckily, I'm quite confident our MEC sees things the same way. When asked for relief from the Section 1 "choke" for A319's, they declined to even entertain the thought. I found this encouraging and I think our current MEC is extremely cognizant of how valuable and critical our Scope Choke is. I don't think there is a chance that it will be bartered away during these 45 days. Even if it was I can't imagine it would pass MR. I certainly wouldn't vote yes on anything that relaxes Section 1.
With regards to the Pay % being bantered, I'm sure we all have a number that we consider "minimum". For me, it's industry leading (including cargo carriers). We start there and go north. And this isn't a bad move by the company. With DAL, SWA, FEDEX, and AMR (me too in 2016) all coming due, they could force labor costs up at all these carriers by going early. Worked for DAL.