Originally Posted by DimpledBalls

The information presented is my own opinion and does not reflect the opinion of all pilots or our union.

First, the actions taken by the company is textbook negotiation strategy. Each and every day that they can operate with a bankruptcy contract is money in the bank. They will never concede to a contract that will benefit the pilot group until all their financial concerns are alleviated.

That being said, I have serious concerns over the capability of this NC. History has shown that the strategy used by our NC, including Bruce York, Chief Negotiator is that they hoped to achieve an impasse. One doesn't have to look too deeply into any past Negotiator's Newsletter to see that this team wanted to play nice to establish an impasse and start the clock for a cooling off period. Their strategy was a viable one early on but, it is no longer effective. The strategy must change. It must become more aggressive but I am not confident that this is going to occur. My reasoning is the most recent letter from our NC that has openly admitted that obtaining a contract in 2018 is not reality. I agree. Rumors have floated that both the MEC and NC are not actively listening to the pilots. In fact, these rumors go so far as to complain that the MEC and NC are acting on their own accord. So, what's the answer?

First, the pilot group must unify. Unity to the level of no longer be willing to make up for operational failures, unity to fly the contract, unity to utilize the approved methods, i.e. ACARS when talking to SOC, Dispatch, etc. We all fly the line. We all recognize the failures. The operation continues to operate on the finest of thin lines and quite honestly, we do not have to do anything to make it worse. Rather, a cohesive pilot group that flies the contract, ensures the safety of our passengers may be all that is required.

Our pilots continually go above an beyond their job description because that is the right thing to do. If our employer did the right thing, we wouldn't need to do anything but our jobs. We wouldn't be in this situation. We all know that the aircraft logbooks are in disarray. MEL's are listed and not active, MEL's are missing and more concerning, MEL's listed can be incorrect. If an incorrect MEL is used, the aircraft is no longer in airworthy status and your certificates are now at risk. Not to be dramatic but, an inaccurate MEL could allow a crew to operate an aircraft that unbeknownst to them is technically unsafe. No crew member would ever take an aircraft that they believed to be unsafe but it may be occurring and the crew would never know it because of the current shortcomings of our operation.

This pilot group needs to understand that until every pilot agrees that enough is enough that NOTHING is going to change. Conversations with fellow pilots at other airlines often ask me, "what the hell is going on over there?" Other pilot groups recognize the problems here at F9 and our pilots' group failure to respond, why can't we recognize it ourselves? Other pilot groups support us currently but we are quickly becoming the pilot group that fails to help themselves. Eventually, no matter how much support you provide to a person or group, when that person fails to take the necessary steps to improve the situation it becomes very hard to continue to provide that support. We find ourselves in this position currently.

The issues of open time, incentivized trips, etc. are of little significance on the operation. While I don't personally pick up open time, separating the group on any level through the use of lists, harassing phone calls, etc accomplishes nothing. If you disagree with someone's decision to pick up open time address it with them directly and control what you can control.

While I don't think this pilot group has the gumption to actually stand up and while my confidence in this NC is waning, eating our own is not the answer. Direct that frustration to where it belongs--BB and the pure greed that drives him. Don't forget, you are a number in his balance sheet, profit and loss statement and bonus check. Nothing more. Your opinion doesn't matter to him. He doesn't even like you or care about your family.

In closing, this post was not designed to separate our pilots. Our frustration should be voiced to our local reps, MEC and NC. It is their job to represent us and negotiate a contract that we all agree on. Personally, I think they are not meeting this objective.