Slap, I think your right, the strike vote probably helped.... But I think the fact that on time performance went from 90 something to 70 something after King Tutt took his paycut roadshow out for a spin was a big factor too. I have confirmed from union and management that after the tutt fiasco, that the company did go back for informal talks which fell apart, but that the company did hypathetically take pay cuts off the table in exchange for other things. I for one am all for it.... I don't mind working more, giving some relief in training and maybe, just maybe do dual flying and get paid 50 seat rate on 50 days and 70 seat rate on days you fly that airplane. My guess is that combining the lines will only hurt that top 10% of the seniority list and will give us the mini bases that they say they want. Being good for the majority of pilots. I say that know that with my seniority, it will not be better for me, but sometimes the needs of the many outweigh the.... you know the rest.
I hope that we sign a contract soon, as I have said before, the industry grows in spurts, and even though I am not a doom and gloom guy, I fear that we are missing out on one of those waves of opportunity.