hey,
you know if that ever happened I and you and everyone else paying dues would be very happy. To have a very honest conversation with you though, I'm not sure how some at our company are being so optimistic about negotiations and this impending contract. Towards the top 25th percentile of regional airlines... so do you mean a contract that is in the same league as ASA, Expressjet or Air Wisconsin? I'm not trying to belittle you, I am honestly curious how people can be so optimistic when we work for the company that we do. Pinnacle guys got a crap TA finally after negotiating for like what... 4 years? And they are still negotiating now. Who's to say that the same scummy mgmt won't deal us the same crappy hand? Our negotiations seem to be hurrying up along a lot faster than Pinnacle's, but even that - I know that myself and a few others are a little alarmed/suspicious at the pace that the negotiation is going... just knowing mgmt and the industry in general it makes you wonder because mgmt isn't supposed to just nod their head to any of our rules that are worth fighting for. You can't help but wonder if they are just hammering out fluff to get the thing done. Again, this isn't meant as a personal diss to anyone's efforts, but just the process in general... I feel like a good, solid contract isn't normally achieved very quickly esp when you're working with the kind of mgmt we have.
Unless you know something I don't which is quite possibly the case. Because if it happens to happen that way and quickly, great, what more can we ask for. But just curious... how???
I'm not saying it's wrong to be optimistic. I know that at the very least, what we get will be better than what we had before... because we didn't have anything before! For me, at this point in time with the circumstances I'm observing (1st contract with PINNACLE mgmt during crappy economy did I mention PINNACLE mgmt, and negotiations is supposedly flying by) I can't see that it's realistic to say we'll "surpass industry standard" or even get close to it. I think it will be a step up for CFIs for sure because instructing usually includes pretty crappy conditions and plus they just don't know better to care. Like I said, if you know something I don't about this whole process to feel more optimistic than I do, please do share. Otherwise I don't believe in any of the sunshine up our butts until I see the final TA.