Originally Posted by
motorboatin
I don’t disagree on some points, but unless the NC had some slant of corruption or misalignment from what’s best for the pilots (e.g. Delta’s last failed vote), it’s pretty unusual. As far as waiting, no one has a crystal ball man, but are you willing to roll the dice on some highly likely yet unknown factors? Economic downturn, merger (would equate to freezing of all current rules/rates until integration agreed to and likely ZERO ratification bonus), or some other crazyness?? Personally, I’m not. I’m also not a doomsday prepper speaking from a fear based perspective. I’ve been cursed as an eternal realist and this is our reality. This negotiation has pressed on for 2 1/2 years at major substandard W2s. Did they fix a lot? Hell yes, but there’s definitely more to be fixed still. Remember, our peers have cycled through several contracts since bankruptcy, and this is our first. Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor was the best Legacy, LCC, or ULCC pilot contract. Our NC has negotiated for this entire time. They have now come to the MEC with what they feel is a reasonable proposal. The Negotiating has taken place! It’s not take it or leave it, it’s a please express your well thought out and informed opinion by voting yes or no. It’s as democratic as the constitution.
That is the quintessential question - are any of us willing to risk it?
But let me ask, how did all these other carriers go through one and sometimes multiple contract negotiations while we remained on a 2007 version?
More importantly, why don’t we vote no and demand a shorter contract duration? It’s the one item that we can get given we caved for PBS (which the company introduced last minute).
Being a realist, I’m sure you know that our current cycle - negotiations every 5-8 years - will have us ALWAYS behind. We’ll never catch up. Three and maybe 4 cycles from now we’ll still be behind everyone else who have found ways to negotiate more often and more favorably.
Sooner or later, to catch up, something has to change. Only way we have change is if we force it. The company will NEVER give us anything - we gotta demand it. We gotta let them know they cant further their agenda of money making (by IPO or sale or merger or expansion or whatever) without our cooperation. And it’s gotta be NOW with as favorable the conditions are than later when conditions, as you so aptly observed, could be worse.