And I've deviated same duty time home from Europe. Doesn't mean I want to allow them to schedule me that way.

Current contract language allows YOU to make that decision, not them.

The UPS 2006 contract:

http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/i...ay_ups2011.jpg

This is also at a 81 hour minimum averaged over a calendar month. Ours is 74 hours averaged.

You should know this information, but increase your current seat rate by 3% and see where you fall for your 2011-2012 pay rate:

http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/i...fedex2011b.jpg

A 7 year F/O at UPS makes $155 an hour x 81 hours a month x 12 = $150,660 a year

Under our new T/A, 7 year narrowbody F/O at FDX will make $134 an hour X 74 hours x 12 = $118,992 a year.
A 7 year widebody F/O will make $156 an hour X 74 X 12 = $138,528.
So a widebody F/O will make roughly $12K less than his counterpart at UPS, while a narrowbody F/O will make roughly $32K less.

A 12 year captain at UPS makes $252 an hour x 81 x 12 = $244,944 a year.

A 12 year narrowbody CA at FDX will make $211 an hour and $185,671 a year.
Under this T/A, a 12 year widebody CA at FDX will make $246 an hour and $218,598 a year.
That is a disparity of roughly $60K a year for narrowbody CA's and $26K a year for widebody CA's.

So near the end of the UPS contract (they have another pay raise in 2012), they are still handily out earning our brand new T/A. I know its not exactly comparing apples to apples, as there are other aspects to our compensation, but comparing the UPS to FDX payrates is about as close as you're going to get in this industry.

The company has its cake (new FDA agreement that will undoubtedly reduce the manning requirements and YOUR ability to move up in the world) and eat it too (cheaper labor than its competitor, whose labor costs will surely increase when they have a new contract). Not to mention when it comes to further negotiations we have given away a large portion of our leverage.

We got to keep our vacation system and age 60 retirement. So we negotiated for things we already have. Important, but not an improvement. Will these very important issues be attacked during our next stage of negotiations? If you want something like a meaningful raise next time around, be prepared for the company to come after what is near and dear to you. Right now we have something to give away, i.e., an FDA agreement that reduces manning requirements. Why not get something for that now rather than giving up something of greater importance later?

I say reject this thing, replace the N/C if necessary, and get back to the bargaining table. It may take a while to negotiate another agreement, but it will be worth it in the long run.

We haven't seen the endorsement letter from the MEC which includes dissenting opinions. This is clearly a stop gap TA with lots of holes left in the contract, SS states this in his message. The question to me is do we approve this TA and capture some gains or send a message that will hopefully give some leverage for the next round of negotiations. If you think another negotiating committee could have done better I believe you are mistaken. The gains in a TA come from the pilot group, not the NC.

disregard, I have a headache...

FedEx does not top out at 12 years, so that's not an apples to apples comparison. Also, FedEx average BLG is higher than that. Are you a politician playing with numbers like this?

Since we are talking averages, since the start of fdx or over the last 3 years. Please provide some data to go with your facts.

oops....... bad data!!

Average BLG may be higher. I was referring to monthly guarantee. I'm sure UPS's average BLG is above their 81 hour guarantee.

Also I used 12 years as a comparison number, not a top-out rate.

Dude, you are right on--nice post.

Where in the TA is the incentive for the Company to continue negotiating in good faith after the FTDT rules are published? I seemed to get the idea from the communications from the NC and MEC the last couple weeks was that this was a way to secure some short term gains for the pilot group while not letting the company off the hook for future negotiations. So we've given them all the FDA stuff they want for a 3% raise, with an option for another 3% raise. Are we to think that the possibility of another 3% raise next year is going to motivate the company to get back to the bargaining table and hammer out a complete agreement? What does the Company stand to lose by dragging out negotiations for another 3 years?

I wasn't expecting a double digit pay raise with a huge signing bonus. I wasn't expecting any significant improvements in work rules because I understand that we can't address those until the FTDT regs are finalized. I wasn't expecting 4A2b to be re-worked because from the NC's perspective that was fixed with the Settlement Agreement we signed last summer.

However, I was hoping for something in return in exchange for the helping the Company open a successful FDA in Cologne. I was hoping for something that would make the company think twice about foot-dragging future negotiations if we sign this TA. What I got was a minimal cost of living pay raise and . . . very little else.