Originally Posted by Sink r8

An excellent post about communications, but not about timing. 1) LM will be gone as MEC Chairman in a couple of weeks (I don't believe he's running for that position), and 2) AMR is four years into their contract negotiations, and UAL and CAL pilots are right in the middle of current merger negotiations. Our contract is amendable at the end of 2012. Discussions can start sometimes before that (is it six or eighteen months?). In this case, I think the driver for meaningful negotiations will be (other than our resolve) the new duty/flight time rules that will give an incentive for the company to sit down. So if you're busy rallying the troops now, you've got a bit of a chronological problem, and you've got the outgoing Chairman stealing the thunder of the next guy.

DALPA lately has been horrible at carrying a dialogue with the Delta pilots in quiet times, but the communications during BK were actually were well targeted. The timing of a message matters, not just the contents. There is noone in the public with a 2-3 years attention span that will anticipate our contract. When our turn comes up, and the press is following, we need to be clear and affective. The appointment of a new chairman would provide a good interim point to place a new message in the interim.