Can I go on record and state, I don't care about how we arrive at some version of C2K pay rates fifteen years later? We need to let go of the past boys. As Bruce Springsteen sang, "those jobs are goin' boys and they ain't coming back."

We are not going to restore our pay because we've outsourced a considerable amount of our bargaining leverage. We've already sold that flying and since we are not taking it back, we can't sell it again. When you count code share and Connection, we perform a minority of Delta flying. Like Lufthansia, SwissAir, and Air Canada, we don't have a monopoly on our company's labor any more. At some point our threat to strike will be met with giggles.

Might as well face it, without leverage, we will get some version of a reasonable raise increase, in line with the Company's performance and market conditions (including representational losers, like US Air's crappy rates). Taking any positions before seeing what United/CAL and American's contract looks like is premature.

What we can, and should, focus on right now is scope. We need to build consensus in support of unity (all Delta flying performed by Delta pilots). Our best negotiating position is indicating to the company that we think our jobs have value.

That's the plan that will give us the leverage to achieve C2K rates and more.