Originally Posted by
EskimoJoe
I've never voted for a contract here. However, the answer to your question is rather simple. The group felt that under those specific circumstances, and that specific time in history, the offer on the table, in aggregate, was as good as it was going to get. This management team DOES NOT negotiate. Sure. We can hold out, leaving millions of dollars on the table in the hopes that years down the road, we might be able to strike...an extremely remote possibility, but still not impossible. Or you take what you can when it's available. Those are the only two choices you have.
The Delta pilot group collectively refused a contract in the summer of 2015.
The company told us, there was NOTHING left. We could just move the pieces but our size of the pie wouldn’t change. Even the union told us the refusal would be a huge mistake because of the time value of money. No company wants to negotiate.
In the end, we did very well (not perfect) sending the contract back. That is exactly what you guys need to do in the next cycle. With the arbitration, you had very little leverage. I hope adding Virgin to the mix will tip the scales for the next go.
The interesting thing for us was that the demographic of the senior pilots seems to be changing. Rather then the senior guys selling out the junior folks, which had been the case when they were junior....they still voted no to leave the place better then they found it. If that happens for you folks, you will be set. I guess it’s a function of the greed of your senior guys.