Originally Posted by
sailingfun
I think this depends on whether or not EVERYTHING is retroactive to the amendable date. IMO, that is the very first thing we go into negotiations with. R E T R O A C T I V I T Y... to day 1... with interest.
We have never seen any real retro pay in a contract. If the contract runs 5 years late which is fast looking at recent contracts it would mean the company having to write a 5.5 billion dollar check at contract signing. Not very likely.
Sailing,
Agreed from an ethical point of view. Companies should not gain from dragging out contract negotiations.
But, politically, it is unlikely ALPA would hold up the Company for full retro when it might result in the headline pay number being lower to account for the size of the retro check. The trend also has been to make retro checks "bonus" money so they are not tied to anything objective and can be allocated subjectively.
So, I'm with you, but politics is politics.