Originally Posted by
Scoop
What frustrates me, and I don’t think that I am alone, is that our union leadership does not seem bothered by all of our outsourcing. I am sure that most of our union guys are not happy about it, but all seem unwilling to say, "Yes we know the DCI situation sucks and we are looking at it."
I hear what you are saying. I don't like the fact that Leo Mullin fell in love with RJ's at DAL South and ordered WAY too many of them. Their initial use was highly profitable for DAL, but when everybody else caught up, and with high fuel prices and a terrible economy, they're an albatross.
But the current reality of DCI is quite different. For all the talk on this board one would think that DCI was growing like a weed. DCI is declining in total airframes. They're going to lose more than 50 per year for the forseeable future. In less than three years DCI will have shrunk by 25%. Over 10% of their pilots are currently on furlough, with more to come. They have virtually no aircraft deliveries coming, as they're capped on 76 seaters. They can take about 20 more 70 seaters, and then that pipeline is shut off.
What frustrates me is the scope victories we've had for which we've been given zero credit. The JV tightened several section 1 weaknesses and protected DAL pilot jobs. The JCBA tightened the total numbers of subcontracted small jets. The Scope grievance settlement ensured our interpretation of language should things turn south. All those are valuable protections and enhancements to scope language that predated the merger.
Originally Posted by
Scoop
I can't say one way or another, and I hope I am wrong, but Lee Moak certainly appears to not want to upset the RJ crowd. Why? Maybe I am totally wrong - I hope so. Maybe there are legal reasons - it could be. Maybe Lee has other long range plans - well if he does that is a personal choice that he is entitled to, but I sure hope union politics is not influencing his actions one way or another.Scoop
There is a legal settlement that requires the Delta MEC discuss small jet scope, with an appeal avenue to the ALPA Executive Council. That said, why would a Delta MEC Chair pander to the RJ crowd? Out of the DCI airlines, there are fewer than 6000 votes at the Executive Board. His own airline has over 11,200. If he alienated his own MEC, the political aspirations which you ascribe to him would evaporate in the voting process. It's not realistic.
Why not look at it from a different angle. If the reason DCI "took" DAL flying is because they are a lower cost, higher profit operator (not true in all cases), and the DCI's are being whipsawed against each other to lower costs again, wouldn't it make sense to try and stabilize the situation to diminish DAL pilot exposure?
I appreciate the "tone" of your post, even though the last paragraph was on the edge due to your belief. If you look at a situation from a pragmatic rather than Machiavellian point of view, you'll probably be looking through the same lens as Moak and the Delta MEC.