Originally Posted by sailingfun

You are giving unions superhuman powers. Most of the scope changes were forced via management. Many major airlines like Delta had no scope at all 30 years ago. There have been dramatic improvements since then. Unseen market changes, 1113 threats and companies on the brink of going out of business all contributed the to the downgrades in scope. No union gets everything it wants just because it asks for it. *Negotiations are always about power. Management held most of the cards and much of the power in the last 10 years. That situation is changing as we speak and the power is shifting. I voted against the current contract in part because of the duration. I do however recognize that the majority voted for the contract and it has 2 years 1 month and 9 days to run. Crying constantly about how horrible the contract is does no good. We need to be working toward the opener. We have to be laying the ground work with the NMB and other government entities to insure our rights under the RLA. We need to prepare a opener and a strategy that will produce a industry leading contract in a reasonable amount of time.*
I am like many pilots. I have never done my share of the hard work. There are a lot of pilots doing a tremendous amount of work trying to get us a better contract when the time comes. Its been my experience that those who complain and whine the most also do the very least with a few notable exceptions. I remember trying to assist with strike prep for pilots in my area. I needed a bit of help. I thought who best to help but the regulars who complain about everything and called two of them first. They were both to busy to provide any assistance.*
I have had major disagreements with many DALPA reps many times. I have seen contracts and issues go against my wishes. I have however never doubted how hard the DALPA reps work and that they felt they had my best interests in mind. Once something was done I moved on and got over it when it did not go my way. The recent contract angst all seems to be a result of Delta finally making a profit in 2 quarters. Sadly however that does not change the fact the contract ratified by the pilot group has 2 more years to go. I think the best move is to focus on the future and the most critical contract for Delta pilots in history that is upcoming. Name call and finger pointing will get us no where and is counterproductive. I want and deserve a industry leading contract. Its not going to be easy and is going to take a lot of hard work to get there. I see a lot of people willing to complain about everything but far to few really willing to work to move forward.