It is not meant to be sweet, it is fact. They made less than a mainline FO did until about five or so years ago, then we took it in the shorts. We agreed to it and signed it. They work under a contract and are in a union with collective bargaining rights. Fact is that the staff at national (in Herndon and working as support for the 38 airlines that are part of ALPA) is down over 100 people over the last ten years.

Many times you will see one admin working for three airlines. Take for example the one that works for C44. In that office C44, ASA's MEC and ATN's MEC are co-located using the same staff member. She does a ton of work. Not that, this matters but, the notion that these people sit around and do nothing is quite a misnomer. Also, when you look at what they make, understand the reporting requirements and what the number represents. It is not just salary. Again, not to talk your issues away, but to explain it.

Simple fact is that, we took cuts, their union negotiated their deals with National, and National signed them. That does not preclude changes to the CBA when their agreements become amendable. In fact, I have no idea what their agreements state. What I do know is, we as a piloting industry took cuts, which sucked. What happened to them involved cuts but of a different animal.

What I see wrt to National's staffing and real estate, is them cutting a ton of office space in NW DC, and cutting the office staff by almost 25%. I deduce that this means we are doing more with less, because frankly the number of ALPA members has not dropped by 25% over the same period.