[quote=satchip;749774]No, management won't give us one penny more that what the market dictates. DALPA can demand all they want but that doesn't change the marketplace. No one can say we are payed below market rates. I didn't say what we think we are worth but what the market says we are worth. One can argue that there are certain carriers that are paying below market rates. Whether true or not those rates tend to depress our market value.

As far as the "pittance" it would take to raise our salary 100k, do you guys read the paper? Do you actually think you will get Joe and Betty sixpack to pay more for an airline ticket so you can get a raise of $100,000? Be real. There is an effective rate of unemployment of 17% in this country. Our revenues are down 10-20% across the board and more in some markets. The fact that we have not furloughed through this downturn is unprecedented. I think DALPA deserves a modicum of credit for that.

Before Carl starts calling me a girl with a grass skirt for not demanding that we stomp our feet and taxi at a slow walk to force the company to pay him, I say to what end? So you can get $300 an hour and I can get furloughed? So I can pay an assessment on my dues for years while you ride off into the proverbial sunset with your retirement intact? No way buddy. I don't want to be paid the most, I want to be paid the longest. You want to help this pilot group? Raise the bottom 2 year pay rates by 10% and gradually reduce the raise as you go up the ladder. That would be worth far more in the long run than raising across the board or raising the WB rate. Time value of money...

The former retirement plans based on last three year earnings have skewed the pay rates negatively for our present system. With a DC it is far better to raise the beginning years rather than the later years. We could phase in the change to minimize the impact on the top enders. For the long run and guys like FTB, Super, Beer, and the rest of the wunderkinder, we need to change our entire philosophy of compensation.

Kudos to our union for reading the tea leaves of the current world and market place and taking a non confrontational business oriented stance. Now lets change our focus from the short term to the long term.[/quote

Stockholm syndrome