Originally Posted by
Airsupport
*rumor alert*
I "heard" that the company and the union agreed to a proffer of arbitration on pay. supposedly scope and pbs are done and pay is the only thing left. once they realized they would never agree to the terms they put in for arbitration, just like our 900 rates. any truth to this rumor? i can see why we would do this, but i also think it carries a great risk. we have held out for nearly 4 years on a good contract so why would we put it in an arbitrators hands? i mean if we held out all the way to the strike i am sure we would get a better deal than what the mediator is going to give us. just playing devils advocate on this and yes it is just a rumor since i have not heard this from any official sources.
Hey Airsupport...this is pure conjecture on my part, maybe Higney can chime in, but from everything I've heard that proffer resulted in a brilliant move by the arbitrator--a formula based on an average of other regionals' payrates which automatically adjusts as the years go by, which theoretically should (have) given the company less of a reason to stall (similar to Eagle's cost of living adjustment that goes on without any need for the company to agree)...this is why Mesa signing their TA was a "bad" thing for us...because if they would've pushed for a raise, however small, it would have automatically (without any discussion with our mgmt) increased our payrates becasue of that formula.
Can't wait for Obama's appointment!!! Theoretically we should be their first priority since we've been amendable longer than any other pilot group currently in negotiations, but of course we're small change compared to some of the groups with issues in the pipeline...I'm crossing my fingers for something by May at the earliest and Nov/Dec at the latest...then again I've learned not to get my hopes up!!!