Originally Posted by
NotMrNiceGuy
You don’t get it. It’s pattern bargaining. You’re constantly going on about how delta and those guys passed us like it’ll always be that way. Of course, they did! It’s the cycle of union bargaining. Every contract WE’VE had for a generation has had rates higher than the industry leader. Even when we’ve had better vacation, traditional bidding, BKO, etc. We didn’t have to horse trade to level up. We just raised the bar. It’s just timing.
But you get so lost in the weeds with meaningless details, you miss the majors. Do you actually want to spend negotiating capital on change our amendable date so we don’t get beat ten months out of the year on rates? Who gives a flying flip?
We had leading rates on our last contract. Same in Bridge 2011. Same in 2006. Get over it.
Oh I get it, your identity and self worth are tied up in this story you want to tell yourself. If you would actually read the posts leading up to my original post, you would see that others were saying that we need to give up on raising the pension in order to get pay rates. I disagree.
So, every contract WE'VE had for a generation has had rates higher than the industry leader? Well, considering this is the first contract you have ever had a chance to vote on at Fedex, I don't know how you can claim to be an expert on the history. In 1999, Delta had a top rate of $250/hour. Our 1999 contract had a top rate starting in June 1999 of $183. In 2001, Delta ratified a new contract with a top rate of $319 in 2004. In 2006, we ratified a contract that had a top rate in 2006 of $225. Notice that was less than both of Delta's 1999 rate and 2004 rate. So, did we always have a rate higher than the industry leader? Did we raise the bar, or did the bar sink below our rates? If we raised the bar with pattern bargaining in 2015, why did we accept rates lower than the rates that Delta rejected 3 months earlier? I get that your version of history is what you want to believe. If that makes you happy, then great. Maybe the sales job that convinced people to come here was a self created narrative.