Originally Posted by GordoCooper

Let's think about this. Mr Smooth and a few others have mentioned that we should vote yes, just because its a contract. This completely defeats the purpose of negotiations. If we are willing to vote yes; with the hope of LOA's to correct things, we have voted in error. AAY management has a history of dragging their feet, and terrible schedules and work rules. We NEED a GOOD work rules contract.

In the event we vote NO, it doesn't end anything. We vote NO until the negotiation produces a proper contract. After reading the proposed TA, if you see a need to make LOA's before the scheduled amendment round; you should vote NO and let our negotiators know why.

The other remarks regarding us not being able to predict future work rules and pay is questionable as well. AAY has predicted it's future costs without doubt. Pilot's can demand a pay and work condition contract based on what we know now, and what we believe to be the direction the industry is going. As we all know, in the event of a downturn, we can guarantee airlines to expect concessions from the pilots. Therefore, we can expect a very good contract based on projections.

Pay should be acceptable for the next 5 year+ cycle. Work scheduled (i.e NO SINGLE DAYS OFF; vacations actually being available to use; being able to utilize PTO regardless of how many reserves are listed for that day; etc) should also be expected for the 5+ year cycle or my vote is NO.

If AAY offered a ridiculous low pay, but said don't worry, we'll get you an LOA for that next year, would you vote yes? We should take every section, and ignore the possibility of change. It's either good now,(and we aren't just talking about pay) and we vote yes; or it isn't good and we vote NO.