Originally Posted by
Scoop
Bar,
So when the company was bending us over in BK to the tune of:
42% pay cuts
Termination of DB
loss of vacation weeks
Numerous QOL degradation’s etc
We were supposed to draw a line around Scope and fight that one to the death? You are proving my point - trying to limit the damage with the BK gun to your head under the very real threat of having our whole PWA thrown out is not “selling Scope.”
The company was coming after everything. Did we sell 42% of our pay to protect QOL issues. How about the DB - what else should we have “sold” to protect that. Trading credits would hold water if that was all we surrendered. One could just as easily argue we traded 42% of pay cut credits to minimize Scope degradation. I guess it’s all perspective.
I am coming at this from the perspective of a furloughed DAL Pilot while DCI was hiring hundreds if not thousands of Pilots. So as I said apparently DALPA should shy, away from all forms of bartering.
I agree with you that DAL flying should all be done by DAL Pilots and we should do whatever we can to bring all aboard on a single seniority list but when I hear guys talking about DALPA Selling Scope I am more thinking a monocled DALPA fat cat smoking a cigar with a bag of cash. The situation you describe is more like a drowning man pleading for a lifeline from the company while going under.
Excuse me while I go look for an ATM. No not for that, I am going to enjoy a White Russian.
Scoop
You make a very valid point.
When ALPA negotiated nobody knew for sure if a judge would throw out labor protective provisions (scope) during bankruptcy because these job protections were non-pecuniary (not directly dealing with money). Such a question had never been resolved at court before. It was not until American Airlines (APA) attempted to hold the line on scope, took the matter to the bankruptcy court and Judge Lane threw out the pilots' contract in September 2012 that we really knew.
With hindsight, the Delta MEC's bankruptcy dealings were very smart and benefitted the Delta pilots. Delta pilots got something for scope. American got nothing for their scope, along with the rest of their contract getting powerwashed by the judge.
The instinct to protect scope comes from old school notions of unionism and labor law. These fundamentals bind the company to our contract today and are the basis for our current fight for contract enforcement.