Sailing is not the pariah. His postings read as if they were written by a company strategist but that is actually good. I have no idea who owns, posts or manages the account. I have my suspicions, which is not an accusation but rather an observation over several years. I said I appreciate his posting because it adds to the conversation and keeps the business side of the PWA in perspective. I don’t buy his excuses for company violations as accidental or oversight because this management team is deliberate and holds themselves in high regard. The fact that the huge volume of scheduling violations continues to go unaddressed for years (and now through the highest level of over staffing) shows they intent to not fix it. He often defends management actions while criticizing the pilot group as uncooperative or uses outlier examples to justify the company’s response. He seems all too willing to entertain management needs while characterizing quids or pilot gains as unreasonable. All of this is good for a public forum and necessary for productive discussion regardless of his alignment. He represents a management viewpoint well and is entitled to post as he likes so disagreements with him are to be expected from a group of labor members.

None of this is a personal attack but rather appreciation for the information he presents. The CC echo chamber is not what we want to devolve into. I still don’t understand how professionals can be so disrespectful to coworkers using real names. I will probably never post there and only casually peruse the thread titles to get a sense of what is being discussed. Reading any thread more than a few posts is sickening. Unlike most arguments on the internet (political etc.) it’s OK to disagree and continue to engage with out demonizing the person/account on APC. Who would have guessed the “anonymous” platform is actually the most informative.

My perspective is that we (labor) are always the last to gain and the first to loose when the company gains and looses. Furthermore, when we lose it has a doubling effect both as a current loss and a future setback to be re-achieved. Not to mention changes in language are always concessionary because they are open to new interpretation. Managers are thorough and purposeful in their policies, negotiations and actions while we are mainly amateurs because our professional skills are as pilots. We should always proceed with an abundance of caution in negotiations and contract administration. Sailing, with the current PWA being among the top in the industry and the economic environment being what it is now, defense of the agreement is prudent, not amending it.