Originally Posted by
oldmako
I just don't see the same rainbows and sunshine that you do. I see a pilot group ten-years from now in a weakened position because of this type of agreement. I see the company opening and closing the "Pilot Money" valve as they see fit in response to Geo-Political events, seasonal trave fluctuations, etc. I think this is a lousy way to deal with their problem and from what I have seen so far, I no longer trust the union. One need look no further than the "new and improved" SRLs. The last rumor I heard? That this thing does not contain iron clad language to prevent furloughs past six months. So, we all jump and clap and in six months they whack away anyway?
Twenty years ago the old guys were screaming from the rooftops, give them the hourly rate, do not touch the work rules, do not open up the contract. We got some of the bucks back, but we never got those rules back. They were right then.
I'll read it and decide.
i think a run-of-the-mill recession wouldn’t merit any sort of consideration around our SRLs, or other staffing protections. But this (so far) is a one of a kind event for the travel industry and I’m glad the union is attempting to meet the challenge with new solutions. To me, if they sat in their office collecting 94 hours a month and just watched the implementation of the contract, I would truly wonder why we even had a leadership board at all. That’s my take on the union. Major points: All program’s thus far have been voluntary (I took month by month SRLs Instead of ESRLs for example) and any modifications to our UPA require membership approval. We can be skeptical, but the stated goal of opening our contract said nothing of “giving back” a single work rule or pay rate.
I think the biggest/scariest consideration is if this modification allows the company to exercise any rights to make changes going forward, whether by pure choice, or based on metrics. I could not agree more with you, that allowing our contract to become dynamic based on the economy would be worse than the concessions given in the years after 9/11