I attended the union meeting in Germantown. It was "chaired" exclusively by DW. DW was able to share some of the history of the LOA that I had not heard before. Others who were there, please feel free to correct me if you heard something different (I know you will anyway).

Although I never actually crunched the numbers, I have assumed since the initial LOA discussions that the LOA was a "cost neutral" arrangement. I assumed that the money the company was "giving" us for housing, $10,000 advance and tax equalization was the SAME money they were saving from d/h tickets, d/h days and increased productivity. DW says that's not the case at all. He says the money we are receiving is the company's calculation of what it has cost them to move folks to SFS (~$80,000). So, the negotiating committee asked to take that $80,000 and dole it out to the FDA crewmembers that might not want a 3 year "Section 6" move. We've heard it in numerous union communications (worth $40,000/yr for 2 years?).

So ... if that's where the $40,000/yr is coming from then the company is GETTING ALL THE OTHER BENEFITS OF THE FDA FOR FREE! Even the company has stated that these FDA's will be HUGE money makers. It would be nice if the company would take some of the cost savings and contribute to items such as schooling (maybe even a $5000/kid, $10,000/family cap?), larger housing allowance, etc.

Oh ... DW also said that the company wanted us to live in a compound (he referred to it as "base housing") that the company would own and rent to us at a profit to them. YGTBFKM!!!!!

OK ... I'm done with that rant. Other interesting items from yesterdays meeting that I haven't yet seen posted on APC include:

- DW says that from a distance (they couldn't actually get onto the airport property for security reasons) it looks as though the CAN facility will be as large as MEM.

- DW says that the company has told him that they would like to open an MD-10 FDA in HKG immediately (he didn't say specifically but I assume in addition to the A300 FDA?) but don't have the airplanes to do it with.

- DW says that the CDG 757 FDA will NOT replace the A300 SIBA but will be in addition to it.

- ~30% of HKG flying will begin with a d/h from HKG

- DW expects that the initial HKG flying will look very much like SFS flying looks like today (same 5 A310's flying to the same destinations/same frequency initially)

I'm really disappointed that FedEx doesn't think we are skilled labor worthy of an expat package (see JL's email) and I'm disappointed that there seems to be a scheme to have the pilots pay some of the costs of this hugely profitable company expansion.

And we heard it again folks ...

We're going to do this with or without you

Rant over ...


Mark