I’m not givin him shiite about it. He’s well within his prerogative to make the most of the current contract. For the most junior the contract provides a narrow band of opportunity to maximize financial and QOL provisions. The mid range provides a wider range to do so. And the top provides an even wider margin to do so. As it is with all contracts.

If a great contract is to be won the tip of the spear is always the upper middle and senior most pilots willing to make temporal sacrifice on behalf of the junior pilots for the potential reward that ALL will come out ahead in the end. But it requires two key components: A. Trust in the wisdom, resolve and unity of the union leadership and negotiators. B. A willingness to leverage some of their personal contractual maximization (which they are indeed entitled to) for a short term to get a better contract for everybody. OTZ has made it clear that neither of those principles exist for him, and so he’s gonna operate accordingly.

Whether or not he would operate differently if he actually had faith in our union, I have no idea. But, with the history of union leadership/company cronieism at Alaska, its totally understandable why he’s like “F it!!! While y’all chase your tails “negotiating a better contract, I believe I’ll just maximize the current one.” It all begins with the leadership. The company has done an amazing job at exploiting that one. OTZ isn’t the problem. He’s a byproduct of the problem.