Whalesurfer,

Just because I'm voting yes on this TA doesn't mean I don't care about those issues you mentioned. According to the EB/NC, those issues did not score high on the surveys from the membership for negotiation. Whether out of ignorance or lack of interest, retro retirement took a back seat to many other issues. Not to mention no other airline has ever successfully negotiated for retro retirement...there was no precedent.

The signing bonus follows along with what fedex has had in their last two major contracts. Their bonus was prorated for cpt time versus fo time and wide versus narrowbody. Our bonus last time was a cpt bonus and fo bonus with no discriminators. Is it more fair or less?....last time I had an fo just off probation tell me he deserved the 60k rather than the 40k because his vote counted the same as mine. Kind of hard to argue with someone who has that sense of entitlement knowing that the signing bonus was a retro replacement.

Do I wish the EB/NC got everything for everybody and left no one behind? Of course, but I have to trust that they tried and came up short based on what the membership told them were the priorities.

The TA was negotiated for the group as a whole, now it is up to each individual to validate whether it is good enough for them. I'm not going to tell anyone how to vote (duh!) but realize that if we go back to the table we are likely to lose a lot of what we have fought for in this TA..not to mention losing the time value of money. If enough people cared about those issues you mentioned, the TA would get rejected...but I think the survey reflected what the membership stated in their surveys and that is what the EB/NC handed us.

JMO