Originally Posted by
sailingfun
Netjets does not work under the RLA. Huge difference!
SWA's pay is a direct piggyback off legacy contracts. They were saved from the cuts that the rest of us took by 5 billion dollars in fuel hedges and a strong balance sheet. Over the course of my career I have made far more then my counterparts at SW and worked far fewer days with a much higher quality of life. The chapter 11 contracts are all going to be up for renegotiation in the next few years. There will be a restoration of the balance and I would bet money over the next 20 years the overall compensation will be better then SW at the legacy carriers.
One think I notice that is never mentioned here is the extra money Delta pilots were paid from the claim and merger stock. Add that into the hourly rates and Delta does not look so bad. I did not include note money because it was compensation for retirement.
Sailing. I get it. It's Skittle skies and rainbows everywhere in your world. What is that...the Good Ship Lollipop that you are sailingfun on?
1. NetJets....They operate in the same airspace performing the same tasks as we do. Except, we are worth less because of the RLA? Yes that changes how negotiations are conducted, but not the resolve or lack of it to stand up for what ones worth. RLA is a cheap skirt to hide behind.
2. SWA Fuel Hedges. Why the h&!! should we be the ATM machine they go to if someone blows the fuel hedges out of their rear end. There is no moral hazard for messing that up if you can just take the loss or perceived loss out of your employees. We should be a fixed cost on that balance sheet.
3. In your day, perhaps you are right about that comparison to your past career and that of a SWA pilot. Not true anymore nor will it be going forward by a long shot. As you edge close to retirement, realize that the low cost carrier pilot flying a 737 is making more that you will with better benefits as a senior DAL pilot. And that SWA pilot .... his retirement is going to make yours look down right pedestrian. Especially if he got in the the great stock option years which I suspect an equivilent hire to you over there has.
4. 20 years? That long to reach parity with a low cost carrier or to restore to what we had? Either way. It boils down to this:
The DAL pilot has to stand for something, or they will fall for anything.
Goes for ALPA to. They are already teetering.
5. This is one of the most myopic and extraordinary statements I have heard in a long time!
"Take the money from the claim and the merger stock and add it to the Delta payrate and it doesn't look so bad."
Wow. That $$ was compenstaion for you agreeing to dump your pension. That $$ was pennies on the dollar to what your pension was worth. That claim would have been significantly smaller if Uncle Doug had not put a bid on for Delta and run up the price of the bonds. That $$ was essentially a small bribe. It's like the sticker or lollipop my kids get when they get a shot at the pediatricians.
To even entertain the idea of adding it to the current rates to conjure up one that doesn't look too bad to you is breath taking in its child like fantasy. If it helps you to feel better about what happened when we voted in the cuts we took in chp. 11, great. Some of us here want to fix what happened and at least stop living under a chp. 11 contract that saves them billions a year. We are worth more than that. If you are content with your "not so bad payrates," then maybe it is time to sit on your hands or shut up and color.