The MEC Chairman tried to do that actually. But, he knew he didn't have the power to do it unilaterally. At an MEC meeting which was held in CLE, he got the scheduling Chairman (not the NC Chair) to brief the MEC on the so called joint venture flying LOA. This LOA if approved was a promise from management not to furlough any pilots. Well, you know pilots got furloughed. The MEC voted it down. Then, 2 months later, the MEC voted it down again. The MEC reps were not allowed to photo copy the agreement, not allowed to make notes, and not allowed to ask counsel any questions, to include the meaning of various definitions.

The vote failed twice. The agreement, under the terms given to the MEC by the chair included the following:
1. Not put to pilots for ratification
2. 2 percent pay raise if vote yes
3. promise of no furlough (unless there is a need)
4. joint venture flying to greatly expand usage and size of RJ's
5. possible aer lingus style agreements lowering the price of labor on trans-atlantic routes.

At that time, the prevailing thought of Kellner/Smizek was to grow the network through code-sharing type agreements. Hence CAL only had 22 wide bodies via the 777 after they parked the 10's. Many 10's were never replaced, but their load capacity was preserved through their growing network.

I never fully understood the cost structure of the code-shares. They obviously do get paid, but they certainly don't get the full revenue benefit of the pax traffic on other airline's metal. What is the percentage I wonder. Further, does the money from these agreements go straight into the bottom line, or is their a side hose/siphon that skims money and puts it in other places? Is all the revenue from these agreements accountable? What percentage of the revenue from these agreements are the pilots entitled to?

I personally feel that if management negotiates an agreement on a cheaper (lower cost) carrier in terms of pilot costs, then we should get a cut of that money. We can't have our management pimping out our routes without us getting our fair share of the revenue. These routes are our growth. If we don't grow, we die.

look at the stagnation now at SWA. They can't grow any more, and they are looking at various types of schemes to "pretend grow." It's not real growth, it's just pretend growth.