Satchip,

What do you define as progress? If it's accepting modest gains after living with pay cuts for so long, I don't call that progress. Not for the AA pilots and not for the profession. I'm sure APA was operating under the assumption that the NMB was going to act in it's proper role, which is has not.

The APA is negotiating on the tilted playing field the NMB has set for them. I'm sure many in APA and at AA feel that accepting only modest gains would constitute a tacit acceptance of a permanent reset of the value of an airline pilot. I'm sure they rightly pointed out that the "jug" of pilot pay wasn't emptied drop by drop, it was dumped out. My hat is off to them for taking a stand, at least for as long as they have.

A few assumptions seem to underlie your statements on this issue.

The first is that the inability to reach an agreement is a failure solely on the part of APA. I assure you, AA management didn't come to the table with what they considered a "fair and reasonable" contract. It is their job as servants of the stockholder to get a contract signed for as little money paid to the pilots as possible. They're playing out their advantage given to them by the NMB, hoping that the resolve of the pilots will erode over time, that the pilots will eventually come to (what seems to be your) attitude that "something is better than nothing."

Remember, Thucydides said "the strong do what they will and the weak suffer what they must." At the end of the day these negotiations aren't about reason. They're about power and resolve. We seem to lack the latter because none of us realize that ultimately, we possess the former.

If too many Delta pilots aren't willing to at least project the attitude that we're worth at least what we were ten years ago, we're in serious trouble.

Very respectfully,

Whidbey