This whole LOA is chaff and flares. $2700 for housing, 500 pounds to move, seed money and STV is not what the company is worried about. This is all about the RLA. Look at the personal contract that the crewmember signs between themselves, the company and the union. The entire thing is about labor laws and employee rights.

The company is being attacked on several fronts regarding their status under the RLA and many forces (courts, unions, competitors, and politicians) want them under NLB. The company does not want pilots in France working under French labor laws, they want the RLA. They probably never intended to base any crewmembers in a communist country, to many variables to deal with. Looking down the road what about a base in the next emerging economy, India. Again does the company want to deal with their work rules or keep us all under the RLA.

I believe that the company has found that keeping us under the RLA, governed by one contract wherever we work in the world is in their best interest. I also believe that working under one contract and the RLA is in our collective best interest. So, now we have found common ground between the two sides and leverage for both. I believe that the MEC needs to recongize that the crewforce is not happy with this move/ STV deal, it is incomplete and needs to be improved. The company can go on and have their MOAB and still have time to work on this package before one pilot sets foot in the Paris or Hong Kong FDA.

The true leverage is time and I believe time is on our side. We can leave without the LOA and its RLA protections for Paris because the French have some stricter/costlier work rules than the USA. But the company can not afford to let the French get a foot hold into our relationship with FedEx by changing our work rules to conform with their laws. This would set a bad precedent for other nations to follow. That's my two cents.