I think your rationalizing the reality of the situation so you can focus on only what feels good as like it or not, "negotiating capital" IS the foundation of gain or concessions when bargaining with an employer. The reason it was unsolicited (and thus a surprise) is because it serves the needs of OTHERS, not the pilots AND initiated by the party that has controlled the process for decades exactly BECAUSE of the predictability and flaccidity of your bargaining representatives. When it supposedly served the needs of Envoy ALPA and THEY went to the company 6 months ago with the poaching suggestion it was rejected in part because the company believed flow alone would serve THEIR purposes. Now, it's obvious it isn't and then THEY come to your MEC with virtually the same plan because it NOW meets their interests and ALPA dances to the sound of the same music they put on six months ago, but now played by the company.

The predictability there is now so easy, Parker doesn't need Glass to play Envoy ALPA like a Stradivarius. Again, money is all nice and fine, but this doesn't do a single thing to solve the problems there, nor indicate management has changed its philosophy. It only indicates they are willing to do whatever is in THEIR best interests, not yours. The only question is now, is what will they do by mid-late Summer when it is obvious that pilots wont come running from other regionals and F/O's there aren't passing up LCC offers (they would never turn down a legacy) from the likes of Jet Blue, Spirit, Frontier, etc. ?

Perhaps another plan will be developed and presented to the MEC with a bow tie that covers an essentially empty gift like this ?

Let's face it, your MEC has a credibility problem with most of their pilots and to them, a little payola to calm the most vocal segment of pilots (the captains make decent money and the mid-senior of them are salivating at the flow) also fits there present needs. One of your reps isn't convinced and he probably doesn't like seeing the inner circle make the same mistakes of the past and so seems to be distancing himself from this latest unfortunate choice. It's baffling to some to watch such a hapless group continue to cry to the heavens about their misery when from the outside, it's obvious they are significantly responsible for their own agony.

For me, it's kinda of like the car wreck you don't want to watch, but can't turn away from.