Originally Posted by
El Peso
Didn’t we see what the company’s proposal was for improving the CKA job already? IIRC it was like one more day off per month (making it 13?), and a few other very insignificant improvements from what I could tell. And that’s the section the company actually has interest getting right!
These guys are in for a rude awakening. Our negotiations are going to last a lot longer than most believe. And if we go to mediation, we’re probably looking at years. All the while these new CKA are going to be run ragged for 96 hours in a constant training environment. Then when a TA is finally reached, they’re going to be very disappointed with the gains in section 12. Again it’s the one section the company wants to enhance asap and yet their last proposal included minor improvement for the CKA. Some people have to learn the hard way I guess.
I hate to say this but the longer negotiations last, the odds of getting any kind of full retro pay become more difficult to achieve, especially if you were to believe we are heading into recession. I’m a realist, I believe odds are growing for a slowdown. So if your thesis is anything close to this, then it behooves the union and management teams to come to a settlement asap. Negotiations are going to involve finding neutral ground. Employee wages going up a huge amount will likely lead to higher ticket prices and in a recession this will cause demand destruction and could put us right back into quarter after quarter of losses. If your belief is that things are rosy and profits will be sky high next year, sure, drag it out for top dollar. I’m a bit bearish right now for the near term. I want to go into this recession with a decent wage increase, I’m not sure I want to ride it out for the hopes of a grand slam. With that said, I expect 17% DOS minimum.