No way. This can be fixed and “acceptable” with 2-4 items fixed, at a small cost to the company, in one negotiating session. No guarantees obviously on that, and the union will say no way, but hear me out...it is possible.

Delta’s failed 2015 TA had some glaring issues and had a lot of Moakists toeing the “best we can get” line from the top of the union down. They had a very divided group over that TA, had the former DALPA and National president (Lee Moak) calling the no voters “stupid” and “rocket surgeons,” saying they’ll never get anything more, wont get another cent, etc etc. By the way, Moak, after 3 terms of being the ALPA national chairman, was on an approved leave of absence running Moak consulting firm during these negotiations. Seems weird right? DPA cards were being signed and collected, there was unrest with DALPA, and things got pretty polarized. “It was gonna pass no matter what, no Delta TA has ever been voted down, etc etc.” They even played the soon to come to us “new airplane order” contingent upon ratification game. Delta pilots held the line and voted no anyway. And the majority of guys who voted it down decided the moakies needed to get recalled and replaced. So they cleaned house. Shortly thereafter, they got a new TA, worlds better than TA15. Plenty of reading on that saga, but here's a good start: Moak Set Us Up?

We don’t have the same alpa dynamics here that they had. We don’t have political guys vying for national positions or “Moakie” holdovers. Our NC and MEC is solid and selfless. But this still fell short in some key areas (based on bullet points, not final language). If this doesn’t pass, I wouldn’t want them recalled or replaced. They could take the pilot vote and our expectations to management, show them that we won’t accept below market rate in X Y Z areas, and the company could easily say ok, fine, here’s $5-10/hour here, $20/hr there, 3% a year, etc etc. The company needs this more than we do right now. We should have zero concessions in this environment...it won't ever be this good again (hope I'm wrong on that in 4-5 years as we negotiate our next contract and things are still good). No reason to sell ourselves short of market rate. This is the very low end of "market rate" and falls out of market rate with 2% raises on already low rates.

Or it isn't quick, and it gets dragged out further...but the company doesn't want that. They blinked.

My proposal: New actual market rate DOS rates ($230/$240 E190/195, $245/250 CS100/300, $265 bus), and 3% annual increases, moved up to Jan 1 from May 1 to offset this delay in getting a market rate contract. 50% OE trips instead of 75%.