[QUOTE=acl65pilot;801245]I beleive that they are well aware of what we want. I am sure we will make that clear as well.
I agree that they are well aware of what we want. Everyone always wants more money. But does management understand that our expectations are to get back to the kind of compensation that a career at Delta Air Lines provided when we hired on? I don't think so. I think that just about everything we have done in the last few years has sent the signal that we have accepted our current compensation as some kind of new baseline from which we would negotiate traditional type improvements. I don't think our management has any expectation or really even thinks this pilot group has the expectation of full restoration. Like I said before, I'm not an expert at negotiations but this seems to me like a very poor position from which to start negotiating. I believe we need to start setting the tone for this now, or it's going to work against us big time.
The issue as stated in the investor call with Apry a few days ago is simple. They are stalling their talks with APA to see where the new cost line is draw as it pertains to CAL and then us. They do not want their pilots too far out ahead of the rest of the pack.
There is no rule in business that states the costs of an employee group at one company have to equal the costs of the respective employee group at another company. In fact, some very successful companies in the past have considered paying more for employees and taking good care of their employees (and therefore getting the best, most highly motivated people working for them) to be a competitive advantage. You want to talk about "synergies"! There are many intangibles that positively effect the success of a company when you have a highly motivated, loyal, and well managed workforce taking care of your customers. It's not always (or even often) something a bean counter can quantify. (And that's why it's a mistake to have bean counters as CEO's, Presidents, etc. Leave the bean counting to the financial types. You need talented management with exceptional leadership qualities running a company. But I digress.) Now, under normal circumstances, you don't want to be too far out of line with pilot costs at your company versus pilot costs at your competitors. But these are not normal circumstances. All pilot groups in this industry (with possibly the exception of SWA) are being compensated far below the expectation that has been set for this profession for decades. Additionally, when you look at pilot costs in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't make as much difference to the bottom line as one might think. I know that APA has a chart showing AA's CASM with and without their suggested 50% pay restoration. If I remember correctly, I think it made a difference of about 1/2 cent.