Dear Mesa Pilots,
The following statements are not endorsed by ALPA, Mesa, Alan Greenspan, or the crazy stock market guy on TV. When was the last time you walked into a car dealership, and bought a car for the price on the sticker? I hope your answer is never. By accepting this TA, the Mesa pilots are basically paying sticker price. Let's break this bullet point TA down:

• Short-term contract with a mandated early opener - Hurry up, the company needs financing for bankruptcy. Better get this contract signed. Part of the negotiating game.

• PBS with significant ALPA input - PBS optimizes schedules. Better have a staffing requirement here.

• Line guarantee - Better be the greater of line guarantee or what is assigned. Mesa pilots, you know how your company operates. A pilot is awarded a line with 85 hours, then in your "footprint" during integration that pilot gets an additional 5 hours added to his schedule. "Line guarantee means you get paid for 85 hours. That's how we read the contract."

• Scheduled or actual - Is this per leg, per day, or per month? Per leg is good, per day, not so good, and per month is nearly useless.

• Reassignment restrictions - Hopefully saying no to scheduling doesn't require doctor's notes, notarized letters from the president of Libya, etc.

• 200% premium pay for junior available flights - OK

• 200% premium for improper reassignments - So you're saying I can be reassigned regardless of the restrictions. Nice.

• Modest pay increases - Remember, PBS now provides for 12 bid periods per year. Gurantee must increase, hourly pay must be increased, and that's just to keep the same annual minimum guarantee salary.

• Hold back provisions-industry leading - How about just following the dang contract like everyone else does.

• Ability to bid for training - OK

• Increased days off - This one is awesome. Minimum days off per bid for line holders and reserves are 11. Line holders, you get an additional 2 days off per YEAR. Pretty nice for the reserves though. Mesa pilots, shoot a little higher than crotch level on this. Line holders, get at least 12. Remember PBS changes the current bidding system from 13 bids per year to a monthly cycle (12 bids per year).

• Scheduling enhancement provisions modeled after Southwest - If it's after WN, it must be OK

• Fully automated ability to drop to a zero time line - OK

• Fully automated ability to swap trips - Must be specific language on this

• Fully automated ability to trade trips - Must be specific language on this

• Schedule enhancement period (SAP) of three days after line awards to “massage” your schedule - OK

The percentages for and against a contract let management know how many more scraps to throw on the floor for the pilots to pick up. Tell management you want a piece of the pie, not the leftovers.

-My name is Pokey, and I approve this message