Originally Posted by
8LatRB
Who is telling you this? I hear this over and over it makes no sense, IMHO. There is no evidence to show that Mesa has a plan that would prevent a bankruptcy. Mesa has a pilot contract that doesn't expire and that absent a bankruptcy, that same contract will likely be in effect for at least another two years. The RLA process takes some time before unions are allowed self help which is the only thing which could hurt Mesa's cash flow. If threatened with a strike, management would likely file to prevent it.
What is going to determine Mesa's bankruptcy is its cash position, performance and its ability to keep and earn new capacity agreements. The reality is the Mesa has little cash, its performance is near the bottom of the regional carriers and airlines are suing Mesa to cancel their service.
This TA doesn't address pay (for the most part), trip and duty rigs, insurance, and the line guaranty is conditioned up PBS which, after all the commotion, is still totally manipulated at the discretion of the company.
I'm not saying the TA is bad or good, but it doesn't appear to address the concerns which would prevent a bankruptcy. It may or may not happen regardless of the TA. If the bankruptcy happens, PBS will be imposed, premium pay will go away and understaffing will go back to nearly where it was in January.
Well some senior captains have been saying that JO really really wants us to sign this contract if we don't sign it we have him over a barrel and will be able to negotiate for what we are worth. Then from there speculation takes over as to why he needs a pilot contract. Having not ever worked in finance I used logic to deduce that companies want a employee contract so that they have a fixed known cost over a period of time so that they can plan their budgets, look for financing and look stable to potential buyers or to their share holders. Not that anybody in their right mind would say Mesa is a stable place.
I agree obviously that a pilot contract give no guarantees that Mesa will stay out of bankruptcy but I would be surprised if Mesa management does not have a plan to try and keep the company from bankruptcy. It might not be a good plan but never the less there are people in Mesa that think they know what they are doing to prevent bankruptcy.
So to be clear what you are saying is:
1) Mesa appears to be on the inevitable path bankruptcy
2) Don't vote on the TA thinking it will keep us from bankruptcy because it probably won't.
3) Mesa's cash flow would be hurt by ALPA going down the RLA route for negotiations making bankruptcy more inevitable
4) If we go into bankruptcy either contract old or new would be thrown out and we'd end up making concessions
Our ALPA lawyer guy said if we were to sign this TA then bankruptcy court would have a very hard time throwing it out due to the fact Mesa signed it so recently when management must have been aware of bankruptcy concerns. Other factors could be that it is arguably still below an industry standard contract.