So what do you all think our negotiating capital should be spent on.....??

 

777 rates....right before they cancel the order.

Enhanced Grid penalties too.

We could reduce the HKG monthly stipend to fund the above.

 

Section six openers should be a round of golf while management guys sit in office. We need to do exactly what fedex has done with all other negotiations, drag em out for as long as you can. We should spend at least two years, maybe three years negotiating waiting for an upturn in economy. The roles are now reversed.

 

Not to mention allowing as many guys as possible who want to retire at 60 with no penalty to go before we somehow screw up, and negotiate that benefit away for a marginal increase in FDA funding.

Hypocratic oath will kind of apply during the next negotiations. "First....do no harm". Hopefully the economy will improve to the point that 4A2B becomes irrelevant so while needing some adjustment, won't require excessive capital to tweak.

Every day is another day closer to FH turning 65.....and the return of the Waltz of the Sugar Daddys up the seniority list. In addition, it is another day when someone who is over 60 will wake up and say "I'm too old for this $hit".

Before you get upset FH, I was only using you as a polite method to identifying our more seasoned pilots without using an epithet that keeps wanting to spill out of my mouth.

Honestly, if I was over 60 in the current envirorment, or about to turn 60, I wouldn't do much but sit back and watch, and always make sure I could pull the trigger and retire before anything significantly changed for the worst.

With the crew force being rearranged,new domiciles opening and closing and relative seniority moving like a pirate on the open sea in the scope of a sniper rifle.....If I were over 60, I wouldn't make a move till I knew the landscape had settled down a bit. Trying to make a financial decision to retire requires a baseline level of comparison. I think as things settle down after the Paris Bid and a more predictable pace of 75/77 acquisition, the seasoned members will be comfortable retiring without the fear of having left money on the table

That's what I would do.....anyway.

Dragging this negotiation out while the economy improves will allow guys to decide to retire without fear of recession. I am all for other improvements in the contract, but big picture, letting as many of these guys retire under "known" circumstances in an improving economy will do more for our long term well being than another "Grid Penalty" (Which I don't understand as a Boeing guy).

This next comment will probably be moderated, but I use it as an example only. B. Hussein Obama may be a "labor friendly" leader, but the impact of his economic decisions will have a far greater effect than any influence he may have in short term gains at the respective Labor Relations Board. If my tax rates go up 10%, and I get a 6% pay raise, then I'm really not better off.

Likewise, while we are due improvements to reward us for our efforts in keeping this company afloat during hard economic times, I'd hate to win those and in the process we create a new environment that has long term consequences.

I know that is a "master of the obvious" moment.

 

-All scheduling 'soft parameters' and 'agreements' need to become hard contractual parameters.

-No flying on powder days.

 

more scooby snacks

 

Less scooby snacks.

 

Interesting negotiating style. Asking for less than what we have now.

It's so crazy it might just work...

 

The first thing we need to do is say NO to the encroachment now. I just heard, but haven't verified that MD-11 crews are being G/T'd between HKG and CAN. If it's over 2 hours - it's a CBA violation!!! The FDA LOA applies to the FDA crews. We can't allow the Company to cherry-pick what items of an LOA they want to apply to different crew members. We need to stop going backwards!

 

The company's newest cost savings, 2 legs intra-Asia with an RFO also needs to go away.