Originally Posted by
cybourg10
Why can't your MEC go over the best sections of other ALPA contracts (XJT, AWAC, Eagle, ASA, Comair) and start from there? Now I have not seen it yet so I will hold back my final opinion but if it is not on par with the companies listed above you guys will lose a lot of respect with us. You do the same job we do, there is no reason why this TA shouldn't meet or exceed any of the other top regional contracts. Why on earth would you agree to anything less? You guys are going to set the benchmark for the new round of regional contracts. You have all the negotiating power you will ever get in your careers with the recent senate hearings, please raise the bar so the rest of us do not have to start negotiating from a lower level.
the bar cannot be set higher by this agreement, the majority of the TA was set 3-4 years ago, only the last few sections were done this year. The only possible way would be to vote it down and redo those sections that are well below the bar. The price may be upwards of 2 years, will the industry/economy bounce back enough to have leverage for a leading contract in that time? Those "leading" contracts were all signed/TA'd when life was good. No one TA's ALL the sections on the last day, some were TA'd months or years before hand.
Know the process before losing respect. Much of this TA was done when majors were taking 25%+ concessionary cuts just to stay afloat. Most of the top regionals also took cuts during the time 9E was negotiating.