Originally Posted by FirstClass

Fixing maintenance and agreeing to a pilot contract are not one in the same. They can easily fix maintenance issues if they want and still not agree to a pilot contract. Don't intermingle the two.

Secondly, you are not entitled to anything. I hope you do go out on strike and negotiate something good for yourselves, but you are not entitled to anything. Your pilot group should consider dropping Teamsters and going unrepresented. Then, that way, you can have the big strike or walk out or whatever you want to call it unscathed by the chains of the RLA. No union=nobody to sue in a work action.

Don't confuse union with a contract. The company needs you to have a union, its their free police department to keep you in line. What they don't need is for you to have a contract that rains on their cash parade.

PS - "making a couple of extra pennies per share" is every American's right. You should be so lucky to live in a country where this can happen. Don't get me wrong, I feel for you not being able to have what Delta, United, and American has. But you are not entitled to it. It would be far easier and quicker to just go to work there right now and have everything you want.