You guys should know that
nobody can do anything better than a pilot
... that said, I also like the professional negotiator idea because he will have no personal agenda other than the agenda the MEC gives him. Although this last contract had some reasonable "gains" there for more gains for BC personally than for me.
- He fixed his retiree healthcare but not mine.
- He fixed HIS duty rig ... and because he did, I'm not sure I'll ever be senior enough to really benefit from those trips
- He got himself A380 pay rates that HE might benefit from if he can get the company to agree to A380 rates for the 777 (I won't be senior enough to ever hold that airplane if it pays more)
- ...
Anyway ... you get the idea.
What's bad about the professional negotiator idea, in my opinion, is that there are hundreds of details in our contract that make no sense to the average person that understands the english language. Lots of airline lingo stuff that would make it a hard learning curve for the average attorney. YMMV
Mark