The survey is pretty flawed in my opinion. Full disclosure I did not get the chance to take it but my understanding was the question simply asked if they supported a ALV cut which 90% said no.

If there is a TA that comes out, it would have to come out with some type of contractual gains. Now send that out to a vote and I bet a lot of those same people saying no to a temporary ALV cut will think twice and see if the gains the union was able to achieve is worth a small ALV cut and I suspect a lot of people would start to rethink their choice of voting no. I believe at the end of the survey it asks for comments and we can't see those and how do we know 80% of people said, well if you decide to go down the path to negotiate a temporary ALV cut I would like to see X item changed in our contract.

I think we need to let the union do their job negotiate a deal and see what we can get out of it as well and send it to a vote. If it fails well then it fails and we furlough Nov 1st, if not we may get some nice QOL improvements when flying starts to pick back up and flying starts to return to normal.

 

I agree that skipping MEMRAT would certainly help potential furloughs the most, by giving folks a chance to bid these options in November. I’m not sure how much flak the MEC will take if they do skip MEMRAT. My LEC rep originally said they were planning on skipping it, but that was before they posted the LOA for all to read and provide opinions. It should pass either way IMO.

if it does go to MEMRAT, the union could negotiate to extend the bidding window to allow for more time to ratify the LOA. Either way, my guess is that the company opens the flood gates when it’s ratified, making all options available far and wide for bidding, but reserving the right to cherry pick where and how many to actually award. Opening the gates so to speak, will help then gauge interest; then they can fine tune where they actually want to apply savings based on staffing.

 

I agree, I hope they come up with something solid. I am skeptical based on the past several months, and also skeptical as to how much interest there will be among pilots. But if the deal is good enough, then hopefully we’ll get a win-win.

 

the survey specifically asked what would be acceptable.

 

They were asking for a temporary ALV cut which is self correcting. I hope you never have to see the type of cuts that make a contract not worth coming back for!

 

Walk into your local Porsche dealership and pick out a nice 140,000 911S. Offer them 90,000 for it and see how seriously they negotiate with you.

 

As a steel man, i would interject.

As long as you have more checks in your pocket to write a higher number you're fine.

You should ask what the NMB said to our guys and the company during the intervening meetings Delta requested. I'll spoil it for you, record profits and no end in sight, this idea youre only giving pilots 3% because of where the delta pilots are at contractually already is stupid, and the NMB wouldnt support it if they wanted to trigger self up. The NMB was a little put off by Delta and told our guys that. *Shrug*
​​​​Obviously we needed to come down because that was our high ask, but they needed to come way up.

The company thinks covid is going to reset pilot pay and ensure a decade of fat bonuses. I'm betting theyre wrong.

 

So the person who usually gets 2-3 short calls, that will now get all of them because of ULC reserve, is doing so voluntarily? Is paying their
new increased commuting/hotel cost voluntary? What about the lost time at home commuting to sit? Sorry, this is a huge give.

 

That same person is free to choose to bid for that option and has already chosen to commute. It’s not a give.

 

I understand your point, and it’s hyperbole. To an extent, you are right. But, I think it’s more like a fine used car a dealer, who thinks his 82 Delorean is worth 1,000,000, when it’s never sold above 500,000. So the 450,000 offer is actually not an unreasonable first offer considering the market. (Recognizing the analogy is backwards, but again, I get your point)

The bottom line is our ask may have been high, but that’s not why negotiations were so slow. I’m sure you have some ALPA contacts, as do I. Some of the supposed offers and actions at the table were immature for Kindergarten.