Contract 2010 Survey
 

Not sure if this thread is already started, but the deadline for the contract survey is nearing. Jan 5th if I'm not mistaken. This is everyone's chance to ***** to the right people rather than to ether on here.

Topics that I added in the write-in boxes were COLA, COLA and more COLA for one. I'm a believer that financial incentives and disincentives should be used to persuade the company to do or don't do certain behaviors; for example I believe Draft should be paid greater than Volunteer, maybe at 200 or 250% vice the 150 so it makes it a disincentive for the company to resort to it and an incentive for our guys to wait for the call. I'm not even averse to VLT being at straight time if DRF was at this higher rate.

Feel free to post your ideas so if someone likes it they can add it to their survey and take the time to email or call your friends to ensure they have taken it. It's kind of like voting on the contract; if you don't participate there is no justification for complaining.

No scheduling improvements on your agenda? These will increase pay for each day worked.

Min pay per day
4a2b language

QOL -- Mandate Good Pairing building

I'd rather not die a year after retirement. Right now you have to be near the top in your seat to stay healthy.

Increase the pay scales :) - leave everything else alone! Every time we negotiate what we think are better work rules we get hosed :mad:

Also - let the ALPA lawyers, we are paying for, scrub the contract (not done last time around) before it is sent to the crew force for ratification :eek:

I agree and those were also part of my inputs, but rather than cut and paste the whole survey I took I mention a couple things close to my heart and how others do the same to get discussion started or motivate action rather than the usual status quo.

Another thing close to my heart is maintaining the age 60 retirement option without penalty.

Tag?

That was the biggest point I made during the survey, any TA that doesn't maintain age 60 retirement without penalty gets a no vote from me.

SHHHHH no talking about contract improvements unless under the cone of silence. ;)

I agree 100%!!! We have proven TWICE that we have no idea how to negotiate or "improve" work rules without getting it stuck to us in the end. Give me $$$ Today and I'll improve my own quality of life.

Lawyers? Yea, our lawyer, My Cousin Vinney, will square off with the company's ten Harvard law grads. Yea, let's just stick to pay rates!

I hear this one quite a bit. Let me pose a question to you.

Let's say the company is willing to give you a pie that is worth an extra $30/hour per crew member and in return we raise the retirement age to 65.

If we say no way, we want to keep it at 60, the company will come back with an, "ok, we'll keep it at 60 and give the crew members a $5 / hour pay raise".

Will that be ok with you? If you are 59 years old, that may work for you (if you really leave at 60). If you are 55 or less, you are probably screwing yourself; especially if you get to age 60 and decide to work an extra year or two. (Look at the current evidence. How many are actually leaving at 60 now?)

If you are in your thirties or forties, there may not even be an A plan when you get to retirement age and then you will have really boned yourself out of years of earnings.

Don't be a single-issue voter.

In your example the guy 55 who wants to work an extra year or two will be screwed because anything under 65 would be penalized. We need to incentivize early outs not punish it. We should not reward staying in longer.

No increase past 25 years of service. No penalties for leaving before 65. Heck I would like to see pilots with 25 years of service be able to get out before 60 with no punishment. And yes I would be willing to pay for it. If no one is actually leaving it should not be that expensive right.

I'm not going to go into what weight I give my priorities or the specifics of what I will settle for. I'll leave that info for the MEC and NC to collect and use. One thing needs drastic improvement - Scheduling/Compensation.

Smart changes in this area can increase pay and QOL. They are not rocket science to the MEC and NC in place today. Apparently it was for Mr. "Hidden Money". After all, how hard would it have been to put "A380, or any other larger aircraft, rates shall be" in the contract? Or a clause that "an aircraft cannot be flown unless a pay rate is agreed upon". I wish someone had found the time to read at least other ALPA contracts before working on CBA 2006. Simple errors would have been avoided.