Originally Posted by
KnockKnock
This line of thinking is exactly how we fell so far behind the industry. Time, value of money. Lock this in now and get 'em next time. We'll lose too much money due to the time it takes to continue negotiating. Etc. Etc. This thinking is why we, at AS, in 2022, had to spend all our negotiating time and capital on Scope and Work rules. Things almost every other major airline has had for years if not decades. The NC focued on the same 4 pillars from the JCBA negotiations. Did "mostly" fine there but left the rest of the contract untouched. We won't see this negotiating environment again. This is a once in a career moment. There is no getting them next time, my friend.
No sir….. your history is incorrect. The way “we” fell behind the industry is:
A. Majority of Alaska pilots in the past being just as siloed as management thinking like a regional carrier.
B. Management infiltration of MEC leadership
C. No strike clause/binding arbitration
D. Overall “mom and pop” paradigm in the past that we’re just all one big happy family.
Im incredibly sympathetic to the the “once in a lifetime” argument. I’ve waited 35 years to see the “pilot shortage” happen. But, to be clear, our deficit at Alaska is not what it is at our competitors. The apex of our negotiating power prob was just at pre Covid. And the idea that the Democratic Party is “pro labor” died when Clinton signed NAFTA.