You need to vote NO to get paid what you are worth. The TA does not pay you what you are worth. What you are worth may not be what is currently industry standard. It is likely more that the current industry standard.

We are professional pilots with 50+ peoples lives in our hands. Firstly we need to figure out what SHOULD we be getting paid for our level of expertise and our responsibilities. Perhaps this should be compared to the salaries of Accountants, Engineers, Doctors and Attorneys who mostly don't have the instantanous decision making responsibility for peoples lives but arguably spend more time training than pilots.

What we should get paid is independent of other regional carriers, their contract and their salaries. This net worth should be what all regional carrier pilots strive to negotiate for, which I believe is more than the current industry standard.

Next we need to figure out what realisitically we can negotiate. This includes analysis of the companies current financial situation, our past negotiation concessions, knowledge of how the company operates, other pilot contracts and analysis where our company plans to be in the short, mid and long term.

Having a realistic outlook does not mean making concessions on our goals. We all know that our pilot contract has not put Mesa into the current financial situation therefore we should not conceed unless absolutely necessary. I don't see it as being absolutley necessary to conceed our worth now. I'd be happy to work under the current contract for a few more years in order to get closer to our worth. This will not only help Mesa but all other regional carriers

Let me preceed what I am about to say by saying that I have the utmost respect for the work our negotiating committee has done. They have given up their own personal time to fight for all Mesa pilots and I'm sure it has been a challenge not only for the committtee but for their families as well. However it is my gut feel that because of our company's current financial situation, the negotiating committee went into negotiations thinking that they would work on only a few key items (top few from pilot polls). This was then formed into or hidden behind the strategy of get a little now and then go for more in 2 years. It is this strategy I disagree with. Two years is a long time. Pay us what we are worth and give us working conditions suitable to our lifestyle NOW, not in two years.

Not trusting the company with PBS and the soft contratual language should be more than enough to vote no. I have a philosophy developed from reviewing contracts in my past 15 year career. That philosophy is never to sign anything until you are 100% sure you would be happy to abide by the contract as viewed and interpreted by the other party to their advantage.

ALPA tells us that there are many new people in management now that change has come and that we can trust the 'NEW' management. If we can trust management and both they and ALPA agree on the intent of the TA then it should be really easy to adjust the language in the contract to reflect the intent. I have read the TA letter of clarification and while it does clarify some items it does not clarify enough.

It clarifies pro rated days off wrt sick time.
It clarifies cancellation pay wrt completion factor
It clarifies automated check in
It clarifies footprint

It does not clarify improper reassignments
It does not clarify the definition of sufficient reserve coverage
It does not clarify how long open time will remain available after SAP

I've never worked in a union company before so I'm not very familiar with the RLA or the process but wrt to a plan B I would say this. Vote no. Go back to the table and negotiate stronger language in the contract. Include base hourly rate increases for all pilots that have a link to inflation and perhaps even a link to company profitability. Include duty rigs to improve pairing construction. Include tangible quality of life improvements wrt PBS and trading with open time.

What would be the worse that can happen? We would work under the current contract for a bit longer. We could hold our head up high knowing that we negotiated for everything we possible could. At the very least we would be able to force the company's hand.

I want to stand up and be proud of our contract. This new TA will not allow me to do that.