Originally Posted by
alfaromeo
Carl, once again you are just wrong on the facts. A small negotiating session will have at least one professional negotiator along with the committee. The team rapidly expands as the issues get more complicated. When we get into large negotiations you will have:
A professional ALPA lawyer negotiator
One or two professional outside lawyer negotiator(s)
An investment banker
1-3 professional actuaries who are experts on R+I
1-3 professional economists who do contract costing and analysis of the company's financial condition
I am sure I left something out. But your contention that negotiations are attended only by pilots who went to a seminar is grossly inaccurate. There is a large team of professionals that have years of experience. The pilot negotiators help manage the team and always make sure that the focus doesn't leave pilot issues.
By the way, face to face negotiations mean almost nothing. 99% of the work is put in developing the term sheet which is passed across the table. The image of 10 guys sitting in a room yelling at each other and the guy who yells the loudest wins is an image for the movies only.
Nothing quite as funny as being to by YOU that I don't know what I'm talking about.
The negotiating committee chairman is a line pilot who has attended seminars on negotiations. Same for the vice chairman. When things get really bad right at the end, the only people in the room are the ones that can make the decisions - both sides want the other staff types out.
For you to infer that we already have professional negotiators and our line pilot negotiators are somehow barely part of the process, is just silly. And to say that face to face negotiations are not important only proves you've never had anything to do with them.
Carl