Originally Posted by
sailingfun
If the company is willing to pay for it like that why not offer it now. I would also consider that a major contract change requiring member ratification. Your scenario is somewhat meaningless with regard to the TA. The company can always approach the union with any contractual change they want.
I don't know how the negotiations went - it's just an idea of how the company might approach VB down the road. You said that that "domestic is chump change" - so perhaps the company sees that as well and has future plans for a VB. Look at SWA - they didn't get a raise to their TA to match Delta (after our TA came out). Their President said they would just reengage in a bit to give the company something they want in exchange for higher rates.
Of course we aren't SWA - but the company will do the math (and so will DALPA) and the MEC will vote in favor what is best for all the pilots. We really don't know what the VB will be like - I'm happy it's just a test. We will see what it's like, and if we don't like it, we can end the test.
I doubt it would go through MEMRAT - when was the last time we did MEMRAT on a contract change? But I think the MEC would put the language out for the pilots to discuss and provide feedback before they agree to it.
Well, that would be a majority so I would say they did what the membership wanted if they took the raise. Or is your post mere flamebait?
Not flame bait, just how it might come down the road in the future. Everything is a tradeoff. I really doubt the MEC would make changes to the VB that benefited the company a lot if there wasn't demand from the pilot or just compensation.
The potential problem comes from the company and the MEC thinking something is worth X, and the pilots don't agree (see Stand-up overnights).