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.
Unless and until outside forces influence management enough to overhaul our scheduling system, they won't. They WILL NOT. They don't care about any complaints, they don't care what you think, they don't care if people resign, they only care about maintaining control. As W2 wage earners under the umbrella of the RLA, there's very little that we can realistically do to alter their intractable position. A Yes vote does not mean an full throated endorsement, it just mean's "good enough for now". I've always voted no on the principle of our payrates and this fabricated "need" that we be under compensated related to other Legacy carriers. I can't get passed that.
Reading your reply makes me cringe. Because I really hope not all AS pilots feel this way. I think it's this mentality that upsets most VX pilots. And its this mentality that has let management "win" for the last 15 years. That "there is nothing better", " This is the best we can get.","there is nothing we can do about it", "we have no leverage". If that is what you truly believe, then you are destined to get a sub par contract. And I agree with you 100% about them wanting to maintain control. I saw it when Tk and BM sent out the letter about orange lanyards. And to my surprise, the pilots stopped wearing them. That was pathetic.
At my last airline we were in negotiations for a very long time. And the company came at us with a "last, final, best offer" Our union told them to shove it. In the end we ended up with a very nice contract. The work rules were far better at my previous airline in the new contract than here at VX or AS.
I'm ready to embrace the suck for years during contract 2020 because in the long run, it'll pay off. But it wont come easy. And as much as Ben and Brad want to tell us they cant afford to pay us, they can.