Originally Posted by
Carl Spackler
Item 1 and 2 are the demands. Items 3, 4, and 5 is the plan to get there. At least we all understand that you'll refuse to see a plan even when one is posted for you.
That attempt had nothing to do with reigning in the NMB and you know it. Item 3 is not being attempted at all yet. That's another big strike against ALPA national. ALPA should be teaming up with the Teamsters, SEIU, and all other AFL-CIO affiliates to fight this in the Congress. We should push for a national suspension of service day from ALL the above unions to get Congress to act. Either labor has national clout or we don't. ALPA is too afraid to even find out.
I thought you said there was no plan?
The rest of this paragraph says it all. You've already decided how Delta management will act, and how the NMB will act - so we've already lost. Since we've already lost, your plan is to beg for table scraps. If begging for table scraps is all you and ALPA national have to offer, let's keep those union dues in our own pocket. Let's realize that Delta is a 100% non-union airline. Let's stop the charade of DALPA being anything other than an organization to make Delta pilots feel better about surrendering and eating table scraps.
Carl
The mediator assigned to the APA contract has removed himself to work on other projects. He has told APA when they are reasonable he will resume mediation. Without his input to the NMB they actually can't even get their case bumped up to the NMB. Putting a plan out that calls for a illegal job action is not a real plan. How did that work for the controllers. If ALPA put out a national SOS day they union would be fined out of existance in a matter of weeks.
Delta's ability to compete in the industry has no impact on me. My retirement is 100 percent divorced from the company and with the short time I plan on still being here and my seniority how the company performs will have zero effect on my. The only thing that matters is my pay rate and work rules. I do however care about other pilots and employees at the airline and the long term future of the airline is critical to them. It is also important to anyone with a retirement still tied to Delta. If you think Delta can hand out a 65 percent pay raise and hire 3000 pilots for the new work rules and continue to prosper as a airline then we will disagree. I would suspect you wont find 1 financial expert to agree the airline would prosper under those conditions.
In fact even under the current contract Delta has a far from assured future. All the CEO are watching each other like hawks waiting to see who makes the first move for a market share grab. The good news is unlike the 2001 to 2008 SWA no longer has the cost advantage their fuel hedges gave them to undercut pricing. For the first time in their history they are not growing and are sticking with the ATA limited growth plan. They can't take market share from other airlines as in the past and have had to resort to merging instead. They no longer control and set pricing in the domestic market. That and the capacity restraint the airlines are showing is why we are making money. If one airline however makes a big market share move everyone will jump back into the fray and yields will drop like a rock.
Again I think a building block approach will put more money in the DAL pilots hands and a better quality of life. You disagree and believe that if we simply demand the company will hand us a restoration contract. I think they will fight that to the bitter end and drag it out as long as possible. History has shown they have the ability and the system backing them to do exactly that.