Quote:
When the professional negotiator question was asked, it got heated up, because the MEC had the impression that we knew what ALPA lawyers we had and how the system worked and figured that we just didn't think it was good enough. They didn't understand that most just don't know what the mechanism is.
That was the first I've heard of it....maybe it's because I shut the "Worlds most expensive magazine" when the articles went from the "mailbag" to regulatory issues and the "glossy pictures" went from airplane cockpits to guys in cheezy mustaches
The answer to "Why don't we have professional negotiators?" actually is "We do.....here is how it works....." and to be honest, there was more than one person in the crowd that went "oh"
Flame on....but I'll say, if you don't start with, "I know who my block rep is...I've emailed him with my concern, and I have no intention of taking his response out of context and publishing it on here for the purpose of undermining him"...then like the many message lines among this group, I'll delete without reading it.
OK Jakal, I'm starting with your last paragraphOriginally Posted by Laughing_Jakal
When the professional negotiator question was asked, it got heated up, because the MEC had the impression that we knew what ALPA lawyers we had and how the system worked and figured that we just didn't think it was good enough. They didn't understand that most just don't know what the mechanism is.
That was the first I've heard of it....maybe it's because I shut the "Worlds most expensive magazine" when the articles went from the "mailbag" to regulatory issues and the "glossy pictures" went from airplane cockpits to guys in cheezy mustaches
The answer to "Why don't we have professional negotiators?" actually is "We do.....here is how it works....." and to be honest, there was more than one person in the crowd that went "oh"
Flame on....but I'll say, if you don't start with, "I know who my block rep is...I've emailed him with my concern, and I have no intention of taking his response out of context and publishing it on here for the purpose of undermining him"...then like the many message lines among this group, I'll delete without reading it.
. I'll agree that a lot of info came out when the "professional negotiator" topic was raised. However, it did pi$$ me off when DW "attacks" a guy because he calls the contract a piece of cr*p and then demands that ONLY that guy can back up his statement on why he dislikes the contract. I could give him a LIST, but that's another topic.
I give DW (the top representitive of the union) a MAJOR pat on the back for finally standing up and not sugarcoating why it took so long to negotiate our contract. It's because we had/have so many jerks doing DP flying, vacation sell back, open time flying, etc. IT"S ABOUT TIME!! However, that response was related to the question of having professional negotiators (the gist of it being that it doesn't matter who we have negotiating but how we support them). While I agree with his rant, I'm still not convinced that an outside firm might not help with a new aspect or view on how we do things. We got a lot of info on who they used last time ("professionals"), what professional ALPA people are available, and who we have at FDX ALPA. I thank them for the info but WHY is it like pulling teeth to get this info to the crewforce. It's not like this topic hasn't been brought up before!!
I still don't think they (the union) understand why people are asking why we don't hire a professional firm or at least INVESTIGATE what they might be able to do for us. A lot of pilots don't think PILOTS should be the ones sitting directly across from a fortune 100 company. While I also agree that I don't think pilots SHOULD be at the table, Mike A (block 2 rep) told me he thinks it should be pilots at the table and that he is going to write an article explaining in detail how the negotiating team works and why the pilots need to be the ones AT the table. I'll keep an open mind till then, weigh what he says, and work with my rep if I still disagree. Hopefully this article hits the streets as soon as possible.