Micro

Now that it's official the BC is leaving (please don't let the door hit you in the As$ on the way out), hopefully we can find a new chairman with some balls who really WILL be able to direct negotiations that will improve the "pillars" of our contract vice coming out months later and admitting he couldn't improve our work rules. I've talked to a couple of guys itching to beat heads with the company.....hopefully they meet the "protocol" and have their resumes up to the MEC's liking.

I also think it's time our union starts using our dues (in our "best interest") by hiring PROFESSIONAL negotiators to sit at the table for us. If we want pilots in the background (ie chairman for direction), that's great. But it's time for the union and us to admit that we're PILOTS not NEGOTIATORS.

Call your block reps and have this discussion. I think it's time we explore and use this option. You can bet your as$ the company does. Anyone else agree???

Popeye

I strongly agree with your opinion.

With professional negotiators, they will be compelled by a contract with us to do what we tell them. They will have little or no inclination to negotiate for issues outside the realm of the mandate we gave them.

With professional negotiators we will only have ourselves to blame for not looking at the facts, polling ourselves to determine what our goals will be, and analyzing the advice our negotiators give us to get where we told them we want to be.

Issues like VEBA, will never seep through. Why should they, except to satisfy some parochial whim? We could probably trim down the CBA to a size where we are not cross referrencing chapter and verse only to find out, " the company can screw you because it might cause a negative economic impact."

I don't mean to be too disparraging. I appreciate all the work that our fellow pilots have done on our behalf. We are in a great place with a decent CBA. Let's just look ahead and ask ourselves how best to get to the next level.

USMCFDX

I too would much rather see my money used for a pro not some pilot hack who thinks he knows what he is doing with some training from ALPA.

v1 uh-oh

I agree, a pro neg. would have to neg. for the entire crew force, not just the senior pilots.

7/32

MaydayMark

You guys should know that nobody can do anything better than a pilot ... that said, I also like the professional negotiator idea because he will have no personal agenda other than the agenda the MEC gives him. Although this last contract had some reasonable "gains" there for more gains for BC personally than for me.

- He fixed his retiree healthcare but not mine.
- He fixed HIS duty rig ... and because he did, I'm not sure I'll ever be senior enough to really benefit from those trips
- He got himself A380 pay rates that HE might benefit from if he can get the company to agree to A380 rates for the 777 (I won't be senior enough to ever hold that airplane if it pays more)
- ...

Anyway ... you get the idea.

What's bad about the professional negotiator idea, in my opinion, is that there are hundreds of details in our contract that make no sense to the average person that understands the english language. Lots of airline lingo stuff that would make it a hard learning curve for the average attorney. YMMV

Mark

v1 uh-oh

I agree, but BC neg. a good contract for himself but was lacking in other areas( PAY ).

Who was at the table for the company and what was their background? I gotta believe that the neg. for ALPA knows a thing or two about the airline industry.

7/32

vagabond

Hmmm, you guys have a negotiating team consisting only of pilots and no professional negotiator? That's hard to believe. There are many good attorneys out there who specialize in aviation and/or negotiation. It behooves your pilot group to get the best on your side of the table, because Fred certainly also has the best that his money can buy on his side. Without one of your own, you are going into negotiation already handicapped.

I cannot emphasize how important and valuable this is. I was asked to facilitate (ok, that's a bit different than contract negotiation, but the point is the same) a meeting at a state agency known to never accomplish anything because meetings break down or otherwise bog down. We had a set of goals and a timeline. With my help, we met those goals and beat the timeline.

True, there is a lot of lingo and concepts that are difficult to understand, but that's why some attorneys are paid the big bucks. This guy is now working for you and you tell him what you want.

Just my two cents.

Lindy

FDX ALPA will not permit the Negotiation Chairman to be outside of the current MEC's "circle" and if you think otherwise, you are unfamiliar with the politics with this Association.

I would like to see a professional or at least a couple of our attorney/pilots and/or the guy with two Master's (one in Labor), but the current MEC group will not tap these people because of the aforementioned clique.

FoxHunter

ALPA has never hired a professional negotiator and never will. ALPA makes the rules, you don't.

Deuce130

There are hundreds of details in there that me and many of my bros don't understand either. Asking an attorney to figure it all out wouldn't be so much different than asking one of us to figure it out!