Originally Posted by
The Juice
Do you see anything wrong with one MEC trying to circumvent two other MEC's and then bash those MEC's for now showing "unity?"
I understand your points about "what harm could it cause," but I could argue that it causes harm to what is going on when you have divided MEC's during JCBA talks. To this point we are more concerned about the lack of cohesiveness amongst the MEC's than the process of obtaining a JCBA.
It is almost like the PCL MEC chair wants to be in total control of this situation and dictate the terms that all MEC's must follow. I have been told he has aspirations to become MEC Chair of the new group once merged, someone should remind him that he has not been elected to this position as of yet.
The unfounded 9E rumors are spreading to the other groups. If he's got aspirations for National, he's already screwed that up. Odds are NONE of the current MEC chairs will chair the new group, and honestly, that's fair. It would be seen as one said gaining and advantage over the other two.
If you talk to the different reps, there's been division from the get-go between the MECs, particularly 9E and XJ. One MAJOR issue has been how much pilots can pick up open time. XJ looks at it one way (their contract forces the airline to staff properly) and 9E looks at it another (they don't want to tell their pilots how to run their lives). There's ALWAYS gonna be division.
Think there's division now? If this JCBA is successful, wait till the SLI stuff hits. Each MEC is appointed to protect their own pilot groups. Now, I'd prefer to see something fair and equitable as far as the SLI guys, but the only way we're gonna know it's fair is if 9E, XJ and 9L guys are all equally bitter about it. That's putting the cart before the horse.
What the 9E guys are saying is "We've seen this all before. We're pretty sure we know where it's going." and going with our gut feeling (which oddly has been pretty accurate when it comes to dealing with management). XJ and 9L, meanwhile, are trying to tell us "No, no. They MEAN it this time. Let it work." I'm hoping we don't have to say "I told ya so," but we'll see....