Originally Posted by
Bucking Bar
Uncle Sam,
Thank you for your response.
What I am trying to convey is that scope is the foundation for our ability to negotiate pay, retirement and the rest of the contract. Scope defines whether you, or I, are Delta pilots and what we fly. Scope defines who our union represents.
Our MEC's only leverage is the power of representing Delta pilots. Our power is a direct function of our pilots. If we outsource, that power declines. With less power comes poorer results and the declining trend lines we have only recent seen turn around.
Scope is a leading indicator for our bargaining results in other areas of the contract. To gain in these consensus areas, we need a foundation.
Word.
If pay is important, scope is key because scope is pay.
If retirement is important, scope is key because scope is retirement.
If work rules are important, scope is key because scope is work rules.
Without the seats on property, it doesn't matter what the seat pay's or how many days off it gets or how much retirement it earns.
Can we sell scope for pay or retirement or whatever? Sure. For a while. But the only reason that is possible to begin with is that there is still scope to sell, because those that came before us either fought to get it, fought to keep it, or managed to keep from selling all of it (yet). The scope pendulum has swung way, way too far the other way. It is the front and center issue now. We are not talking about a few 30 seat props or a handful of new to the market RJ's. Half our block hours and pilot jobs are outsourced already. Half. And not just to foreign JV's, but to the lowest bidders right here in our country.
That has to be fixed and we will have to be the ones to fix it. Some before us have fought the good fight and others before us have dropped the ball and we are where we are. But we can't build the house taller without strengthening the foundation. Scope is the foundation of every single issue in the profession in general and for our pilot group in particular.
Scope is the top issue. No contest.