Originally Posted by
av8or
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.
The "time value of money" is exactly how the last two, unarbitrated, contracts were sold. And apparently enough bought into the thinking that locking in one or two sections at the time, while deciding to, "get the rest later", was a good idea. Fast forward to 2017 when that decision to forego scope in favor of pay was proven to be a bad one. My belief is that by only focusing on the, more or less, "4 Pillars", we have only righted some of the wrongs from the JCBA ruling. We are finally in a position where we don' have to let one section slip in order to enhance another. I think we should take this opportunity to do just that. Yes, I asked for scope and section 25 improvements. But that doesn't mean leave half the contract untouched. The majority of that contract is decades old. The book has been open for 3.5 years now. We should be seeing improvements in every single section. We're being rushed into signing this this and I'm not buying the excuse being given. The company needs this signed and their threat of not giving us retro back to Sept. 1st is proof. Send it back, call their bluff and get the rest of what's deserved.