Originally Posted by
Aero1900
Just a thought: I wonder if this is true because these smaller carriers have been coming from so far behind?
When you are payed 50% less, you feel a burning need to play catch up. SouthWest voted down a TA in their last negotiations, while they were comfortably making way more money than us. They weren't suffering. They were fighting to raise the bar to the top. It's far easier to vote a TA down from the comfort of your SeaRay while cruising around the lake your beach house is on. Same thing with Delta voting a TA down.
Spirit and Allegiant pilots voted on their TA from their repair shop waiting room while getting the AC serviced on their 1984 Corolla.
I'm not saying that either vote was right or wrong, but circumstances matter.
I think this was a huge reason that Spirits TA was voted in. Sadly, because our rates at Spirit came up so much from where they were, though they still fell short of the Legacies and now Jetblue, the NMB wasn’t willing to work with us and they convinced our negotiators of this. Our negotiators, convinced that the NMB wasn’t budging, had to sell us thier TA.
I really hope you guys have an AIP/TA/Contract that blows ours out of the water because 1) you’re a good group and you have dealt with a lot of ****** over the last 10 years 2) it will give our guys some buyers remorse and hopefully invigor them for our next contract negotiations and 3) it will raise the bar for everyone.
I just caution you not to expect Delta plus 10 percent with 15 percent direct contribution and 6 hour min day at DOS. Where you are at now is largely going to determine where your AIP/TA is. Read your TA, attend your road shows, and ask the tough questions. At the end of the day, if the TA works for you, vote it in. If you feel that you’re worth more than they are presenting AND you’re able to live under your current contract for an undefined up to indefinite period of time, vote no. Also keep in mind that the fact that F9 currently cannot attract pilots is may be the current case, but is definitely a variable that can change if, for example, the economy falters.
For the record, I was a no vote (I know, every one is a no after the fact, believe me), not because of PBS or the pay rates. I was a no because our reserve drops were gutted and because we gave way too much schedule flexibility within our working footprint for what we got in return and I could have lived just fine under our former contract indefinitely if needed.