First off, yes I’m gonna say it. Pay only exceeds inflation if you include our LOA 5%, which means we’re eating that raise. If we hadn’t signed that LOA, we absolutely would be getting 20% DOS to match DAL instead of roughly 15%. They said they wouldn’t do that & they did. There are a lot of places to lay blame for that- including upon ourselves for making that lousy deal in the first place. In the future, I hope we’ll take a savvier approach to “scratching the company’s back first”. We stick to the contract, & don’t trust them to follow the intent of a hastily thrown together side deal.
Having said that, my initial impression is mostly positive. Whether you are a yes or a no, there’s no way you could argue this doesn’t objectively blow TUMI out of the water- even considering what we lost to time- and the glaring giveback of the namesake TUMI bag. I hope we all take the lesson that renegotiating a bad deal absolutely can be worth the time it costs.
I think the RSV section particularly (as I’m reading it) is very well designed. Lots of choice between QOL/pay, & a decent add pay structure to sell undesirable assignments rather than force them. At 84 hours plus additional add pay opportunities, VEC looks like a pretty good deal for in-base RSVs. (The mid-block sick call provision for RSVs is the one item I saw in the entire contract that seems “concessionary”- don’t believe we have that presently.) 3 hr FSB will go senior among in-base guys. Once people start to understand the ways to make $$$ on RSV, I think it will go not senior per se, but higher up the bidding ladder than it is presently.
Bridge to LTD is huge, & we’ve been demanding DAL profit sharing for ages.
New trip construction limits are generally good. I like the 2.5 day off & limits on ANF. I’m particularly curious to know more about the “RSV pool management” intended to improve lineholder trades/drops. Could be huge if effective, but the bullet points lack details.
12 months pos space will definitely help w/ upgrades, though I’m not thrilled about the street captain idea. UAL should be focused on tapping into their their resource of experienced pilots- not just getting butts in seats. (Yes, I understand some new hires are bringing a lot of great experience w/ them, but in today’s hiring environment, fewer than in times past.)
As has already been touched on, final language will be hugely important, so give them time to get it right, & make your decisions on the final product- not the billboard. (Though I’ll get in on the betting at 87% in favor- human behavior & all...)