Originally Posted by
KnockKnock
Again, you’ve chosen to focus on what the L-AS pilots have done without acknowledging that you worked for a company that had none of the things you now demand from AS and blame the AS pilots for not having. You don’t have those things because you accepted working for a company that didn’t offer those provisions long before the AS acquisition.
I’m under no illusion about our contract and if you bother to go back and read what I’ve written, you’ll see I too demand the same improvements you do. When I came here in ‘15, the number one conversation in our new hire class was that we were going to tackle scope in contract ‘18. So while the 737 track record may not have been impressive up to the ‘13 contract, the group dynamic had shifted drastically and we too were highly motivated to improve the CBA. We, just like you, never got that chance and no, we did not achieve gains in the JCBA because of VX. It has been a joint effort and just like you can claim, I can claim that we would have achieved much more on our own. Again, we never got the chance.
I’m not blaming the VX pilots for anything, repeat, I’m not blaming the VX pilots for anything. I’m pointing out that while you guys continue to blame the 737 pilots for your problems, YOUR complicity in working for a non-union shop that offered no protections and sold you off before you could realize any gains, renders your argument useless and is ironic at best.
I never said the VX pilots made this contract the worst in the industry, I’m saying you did noting at your shop to show up with anything better. You basically came to the potluck with no food and are now complaining to those that brought something, that their food sucks. It may suck but they didn’t show up empty handed.
I’ve been “over” the acquisition for a while now. I’ve accepted our fate together. I’m just tired of seeing some of your peers bashing the 737 guys repeatedly for accepting the exact same things they accepted when they said yes to the VX job. I was thinking that the combination of 800 highly motivated individuals to an already energized group of 1100 was going to bode well for 2020 but now I’m concerned that some of you are more emotional than motivated. Emotional contract negotiations never turn out well.
When will you understand that our NON-UNION work rules were better than your ALPA contract?!!! Although all we had was a "hand shake" agreement, we enjoyed better life quality both as line holders and as reserves (as difficult that may be for you to comprehend).
What we brought to the "potluck" dinner (although it feels like last dinner on Titanic) is a pair of balls, something that not all but quite a few Alaskan pilots lack and a sense of reality. Not all of us live in Gig Harbor... Believe me there is life outside PNW.
You know why we are emotional...? Because we have lost the quality of life we were all accustomed to! How is it possible that after two pay raises (one back in January and the one coming up in April, almost 20 bucks more) I will make roughly $1500 - $ 2000 less a month than I did in 2018 while working 2 extra days? Can you riddle me this? And you still claim that we had nothing prior to your contract?!
So yeah, if you think that we are sometimes too emotional, you are damn right we are! It's hard to leave emotions on the side when you are constantly hearing how we were saved by the mighty Alaska Air but in reality if feels like we jumped out of the frying pan into the fire.