I attended the meeting and it was not very informative, but one pilot did stand up and tell DW that the contract was a "piece of sh**". The following animal act was very entertaining. DW's basic response was that he was tired of the pilot excuses about the problems with current contract. He stated the only way the union can negotiate a good contract is if the membership stops flying DPs, selling back vacation and starts showing up to picketing events to let the company know we are serious. I'm not sure I could argue with him, but then again I'm just a heavy equipment operator.

He also explained why hiring an outside firm to negotiate the next contract would not really help the next round of talks. I left after that. Overall, I would say you didn't miss a great deal. Don't sweat the load.