Originally Posted by
Busboy
Do any of you actually know who sits on the company's side of the negotiating table? I may be wrong...But, I don't think there are any outside professional negotiators.
I've said it before, we could have Henry Kissinger sitting on our side and it wouldn't make a difference without the actual verifiable support of the crewmembers. As in, no draft, no volunteer, no make-up(extra), no voluntary vacation buy back and getting involved with the events that your SPC sets up, during negotiations.
DAL and UAL used their own guys to get their pre-9/11 contracts. How'd they do it? Their pilot's weren't working against them. That's how!!
I believe FedEx uses Ford and Harrison in ATL for their labor attorneys. If those attorneys are not across the table from our negotiators, you can bet that they are in the "backroom" waiting for a report from the Companies guys who are doing the negotiation. A middle man thing. Allows them to stall and draw things out. Someone correct me if I am wrong.
As far as the thought concerning extra flying, that is our only real power at our fingertips to get the Company to see things differently. Flying open time at draft, volunteer, or makeup when negotiations arent going well is a no brainer, to most anyway. But, "we" cant even honor the no DP mentality.