Originally Posted by
interceptorpilo
Sailing
FWIW I think you have some really good points on trying to get short on time contracts with small gains each time. BUT I don’t think management wants to play that game. They have every reason to stall and punt even on “reasonable” asks. The NMB will allow them to do it even on these “short, on time contracts”. They just have to wait for a downturn or some other reason and then they can come poor mouth to the pilot group. You claim this was previously done at Delta with good results. That is probably true (I wasn’t here then). But times and conditions and management has changed. I 100% believe management would drag their feet on this kind of “reasonable “ contract. And then guess what? We have a late contract that has given lower gains in the same time frame we would have had by asking for gains that are better for the pilot group.
If you can get a copy of the contract from 07 compare it to the current contract. You will be blown away by the overall improvements in pay and QAL. (Que the but we were in bankruptcy crowd) That happened in 10 years. I also never said I wanted or want small gains. I have consistently stated I wanted a 1 billion dollar a year contract. That would probably have been the most expensive contract in US airline history. I also stated that now even 3 years overdue will be lucky to get near that number. We could have been at or very near that number in 2019 I believe. The 3 billion opener shut down negotiations virtually from the start. It also painted the MEC into a corner. Even had the company said here is 1 billion, you decide where you want it the MEC could not bring something so far off their opener to the pilots. The company was also very aware of that.