Originally Posted by
sailingfun
Your contract ideas are not unusual and our held by many pilots. In the end however they wont put the most money in your pocket and get you the best quality of life. I would hope our opener would be well thought out and provide meanful gains in both pay and work rules while sticking with the economic realities in the industry. If it is we can perhaps get a contract a within a year of the amendable date. If we go the just so no route with a radical opener from a radical MEC then you can kiss a contract goodbye for a long long time and in the end we will end up with basically the same final product just years delayed.
This is a really good point. Many need to be pragmatic enough to realize that waiting five years for a contract while you could be making that money is definitely something to consider. To the pilots that will be retiring it means everything. The willingness to negotiate to a quick settlement really depends on the makeup of the MEC, the demands of the company, the demands of the pilots, and the economy.
We should expect decent gains in 2012. There is still a lot of the dance leading up to the opener that needs to be decided though. The best advice is to educate yourself as much as possible.