I was thinking that we could be able to turn this lemon into lemonade...

This is the 1st time that we will be going into negotiations with a p!ssed off and (somewhat)educated crewforce. The only problem is, we are not channeling our anger in the right direction.

As some have pointed out here, not all of the overmanning is caused by the ND's and their return. And even if it was, there's nothing that can be done about it. I don't like it, either. But, it's the law. Management is the one putting out excess bids. They're the ones controlling who goes where and when. The union's job is only to make sure they do it within the CBA.

We should be channeling this motivation on fixing our contract, scheduling, deadheading, retirement at 60, FDAs, pay rates(of course) and all the loopholes that can make it such a grind around here, sometimes.

DW, will be not be the MEC Chair, come next spring.

Let's move on to the real challenge, Contract 2010. With a motivated crewforce, maybe we can negotiate a contract that actually deserves a 95% "yes" vote.