How do you put that kind of language in a contract? For the companies that have PBS and are happy with it how do you control the reserve coverage? Surely the company can decide to staff the airline anyway they choose. I can't imagine putting in a line that says 'minimum reserve coverage each day should be xx% of the number of pilots on roster' would help the PBS issues because the company would always operate at xx% reserve therefore would have reason to deny any PBS operations.

I guess you would need language that states minimum reserve coverage to be xx%. This xx% should be enough to allow a yy number PBS transactions that will call upon reserves. Then when reserve coverage drops to zz% due to PBS transactions no more PBS transactions will be permitted.

My concern is also the big picture. For instance if we sign this contract JO now has fixed costs for the next 2 years and can therefore make it easier for Mesa to get financing for whatever financial time bombs are looming. If we don't sign this contract will Mesa go tits up and will we be out of a job? For me signing a contract like this to keep my job might be worth while.

On the other hand now could be the time to negotiate for everything we want. JO is over a barrel and knows he can't get financing without a pilot contract and the company will go tits up without it. Therefore now is the time when we have most leverage over the company and now is precisely the time when ALPA needs to stand their ground and negotiate for everything we need.

I'm hoping our ALPA guys provide us good leadership and insight into the big picture at the road shows.