I never have nor never will vote YES to any TA that has us "swapping or trading" profit sharing for pay rates. To do would show extreme ignorance not only of the mindset of big business but of history.

If we were to swap 1/2 of our profit sharing for rates the following would happen. We would originally see a little bigger bump in pay rates that would smooth out to neutral (if we hadn't swapped) by the end of the contract. Then when the next TA was negotiated we'd be at ground zero on pay rates and negotiating vs. our peers at the "neutral" rate.

In essence we'd see a small one time boost for that first year at best or better $$$ as a result. Then we'd be gauged and compared against industry average... now we have those rates at or slightly better than our peers PLUS profit sharing.

I'll never vote YES to any contract that cuts profit sharing. Don't fall for it.

Tail