Originally Posted by
DAL 88 Driver
Gloopy,
This pilot group views scope in a completely different way than it ever has before. You've got very senior Captains on here railing about how important it is! Everyone I fly with and everyone I run into talks about scope as being extremely important. You would have never seen that before the last couple of years. So, no, I don't think this pilot group will relax scope or give up on scope restoration no matter how big the pay increase is. I know I certainly won't.
But on the other hand, I won't vote for a contract that doesn't at least make significant progress towards pay restoration over the life of the contract. Your suggested increases do not come anywhere close to my minimum threshold. If ALPA is thinking like you on this (which I suspect they are), then I will vote for DPA in a heartbeat.
I hope you are right WRT scope across the entire pilot group. But that includes scope restoration. My 10% figure was a one year bump followed 12 months and 1 day later by another one for an approximately 20% bump in barely a year along with some significant immediate improvements, then right back at the negotiating table. If we adopt an all or nothing mentality, it will probably be several years before we get anything, including a COLA.
Then our NC will be in a position where they have to bring a huge increase just to make up for lost COLA during the negotation years, plus the restoration itself.
It all really comes back to scope. If we either continue to sell out the bottom of our own flying, or even if we just "hold the line" to its current rediculous level of outsourcing a massive armada of large RJ's with first class, whatever restoration we negotiate will be in grave peril the microsecond the next downturn hits. If we drag out negotiations for 5 years waiting for a walk off grand slam or nothing, odds are overwhelming that we will see a downturn again by then.
I want 50-60+% as well on the pay raise side. But it is only one side of the equation. If we don't strengthen the other side of that equation (scope) it simply will never add up beyond the transitional period of date of signing until date of downturn.
If 50-60% is the goal, we have several ways we can achieve that. All on day one with a grand slam TA, or over a couple short TA's of successive 20% (or more) bumps which will add up/compound to 50-60% pretty quick and is not only much more likely to happen, but happen quicker and with needed restoration in other areas.
Again if you are right about scope being such a priority, great. But YTF is no one on our side publicly talking about it? At all? Even in theory? Even in raw concept? Soon our smallest plane will be in the 150 seat range, somewhere around half our block hours/pilot jobs will be outsourced mostly to large RJ's, and the regional sector is already placing orders for 100 seaters and beyond. I think getting something inked, right now, to put a stop to that is the highest priority. If we drag our feet looking for a massive Dubinsky 2000 summer of love "United plus" every last golden egg contract that puts enormous pressure on the company, the NC and ALPA national to get us a pay raise by any means necessary. Even if that means itself weakens the foundation the raise is built on in the first place.
That's why when I say 10% on day one, I assume that comes with significant scope reversal because that is the section I will look at first. I will not be blinded by some 50-60% raise or niche featherbedding work rule to look past scope. If we can get both then great. But scope trumps pay because without scope you won't be able to keep the pay, although selling scope might get you the pay in the first place for the near term and history tells us that most recent pre BK contracts when things were at their peak still came with scope sales.