Originally Posted by
jayray2
Regarding your opinion about effective contract negotiations, could you define that please? Was it effective contract negotiations that brought about FO wages at Mesaba that are second to the bottom only above Mesa? Was it effective contract negotiations that bring about the largest gap between FO pay and CA pay in the industry? Wages at Mesa and Mesaba only exacerbate the race to the bottom. How do you think our industry leading bottom feeding FO wages help Pinnacle (our fellow pilots) in their fight? As I stated above, if I do get a vote in this before I am let go, I will consider what the Union has to say. However, your attitude comes off as being very combative and non productive. Are you even willing to consider the case the Union will present in the roadshows?
At the time the contract was signed the averaged FO pay (because of the blended rate) was a little over 60% of the CA pay for the aircraft types that were on the property. The slide in CA-FO pay percentages is due to the BLENDED RATE not poor negotiations. His point is that it takes more negotiation capital to regain a negotiated item than it does to maintain that same item. IE. It would be better going into negotiations stating we want the FO pay at 60% of the CA pay, if we retain the higher CA pay, han to balance the pay now, out of the CAs coffers, only to try to push up both payrates in the upcoming negotiations.
I've said it on the "other" website, and I'll say it here. The absoulute first thing that has to happen to fix the FO pay issue, is get rid of the Blended Rate. If you want to complain to anyone that even had a hand in that fine piece of negotiations than you better look north of 150 on the seniority list, because the rest of us weren't here yet.
For the record I am willing to forgo some of my raise to resolve this, but I want to fix the problem so that it does arise again.