No kidding. That didn’t even occur to me. He was ****ed off that I even mentioned his hat and lack of lanyard. I just walked away. It’s his right to support the company instead of union. I don’t agree with it, but it is what it is.

Yep..... Was there any other choice?

Missed opportunity…I should’ve waited until the next time I was on an intl trip

Yep. And there’s plenty of probationary pilots on their new hire chat groups fawning over all of the green slip opportunities. You can’t vote (going hatless and the lanyard are not necessarily expected either), so for Gods sake how about doing your part by at least taking your days off for yourself or family instead of the company. I know that everyone has different circumstances, but try thinking long term/big picture!

VOTED: IN FAVOR (YES!!)

It’s a (really) bad look when you drag your feet at our negotiating table while simultaneously boasting $150,000 in bonuses to each Endeavor New Hire Pilot.

Devil's advocate, but after 5k per month and $91/hr, GS's might be the difference between debt and stability to a lot of new hires. It's funny though, I pointed that out to someone who was like, well I could afford to live fine on it 10 years ago, and the irony of not recognizing what inflation has done to a new hire's financial state was completely lost on him.

Striking doesn’t pay as well as scabbing either. Apples and oranges of course, but a debt-free seniority list isn’t the goal of our association at the moment.

Most new hires (myself included) are eating through savings to make first year doable. More so now due to inflation increasing the cost of almost everything by 20%+. I’m an adult with responsibilities like kids and an aging parent I care for. Eating through savings while staring at a possibly nasty recession next year that may very well lead to furloughs. So eat through savings on probation and then face furlough with no money… Or eat through less savings on probation by picking up Green Slips (a negotiated contractual provision) and have some money for a potential furlough. Want to fix the issue of new hire pilots picking up Green Slips? Fix first year pay. It’s abysmal. And raising it to $100 /hour first year to be in parity with what regional FOs are now making is a joke too.

And for the record I haven’t even been picking up Green Slips. But I certainly don’t fault those who do.

I don’t do them anymore and that is my choice. I am done helping out but I’m also a captain and don’t need the extra flying as my pay and lifestyle are in check.

I 100% understand YOUR decision and harbor you no ill will for utilizing the PWA to you benefit. I would be doing the same. There are others the greenslip discussion this is more likely directed at so pay it no mind.

If they literally say 1% > pay rates than Alaska while changing nothing, they’re not lying. But that’s the conundrum they find themselves in. That’s the hubris of this management. They still think it’s just a small group of Chit Chatters that the union is catering to. That’s why this strike vote is so crucial. If we show them 97-98% authorize a strike…tough to fly planes with 2% of the pilots

In FAVOR!

filler
edit: Has DALPA ever held a strike vote before? Does anyone know the results if so?

Come on, now, Ted. Comparing GSing to Scabbing ain’t even in the same galaxy. Not even a little bit.

GS is in the contract. Crossing a picket line isn’t. Let’s keep our eye on the ball, and our fire outside the circle.

Probationary guys here on first year pay picking up flying isn’t the issue, they are in survival mode.
It’s the pilots who have been here for years and who KNOW better that’s the problem.

At this point wearing a hat and no lanyard says

”I SUPPORT DELTA MGT”

Decent email out from C44 this morning. Here’s the part I appreciated the most:

“Regarding compensation, we have repeatedly, and unequivocally, made two particular points since we took office:

1. It is non-negotiable that the Delta pilots will be made whole from inflation, and
2. The Company cannot be financially incentivized to delay a contract beyond the amendable date.

Regardless of other items within the economics package, their Section 3 compensation proposal fails to achieve either of the above. From our perspective, any proposal that falls short of inflation or fails to achieve retro pay back to the amendable date implies our executives believe they can get away with reducing our standard of living or enjoying a windfall by delaying a contract beyond the amendable date and anytime a pilot drops off of our seniority list due to mandatory retirement.”

We made billions of Amex kickbacks during a total lockdown year. We're forecasting 7B from Amex by '24. We are charging 25% more for a seat than we did at the beginning of '19. Our revenue premium over our competitor set is over 15%. What questions are left to answer?

The more they hold out the more we begin to act like our competitor’s pilots. No more going above and beyond with that Delta Difference. It’s also the FAs that are pulling up the reigns too. Not being fiscally acknowledged for what we do is going to get them in a world of hurt, and I don’t think Sleepy will stick around to see it.

Anybody else notice in C44 update an unexplained line on an inflation chart at 7.88%? Makes me go hmmm. But maybe I missed an explanation somewhere.

Don’t fly sick
Don’t fly tired.
Don’t fly hungry.

7.88% is the “made whole” inflation number since Jan 2020. There’s an even amount of area above that line and below that line extending to the actual inflation line.

(Cumulative Inflation was less than 7.88% until July 2021 and more than 7.88% after July 2021 for the duration that the contract has been amendable.)

Basically that’s percentage number of retro pay that we’d need over our lost earnings since the amendable date due to inflation.

Yes. In 2000 and it resulted in the best contract in Delta history.

Say things actually develop into a strike…

What happens to the new pilots on probation? Those in Indoc or doing OE? New idea in training?

Listen to the engage podcast on the DALPA website.

Unless we end up being paid significantly more than our competitors when this contract cycle is complete, I don’t ever plan to go above and beyond what our competitor pilots provide. We’re hired to be pilots - let’s focus on flying the airplane safely from point A to point B. The marketing department can pay me an extra premium if they want me to wear a hat and stick around for 20 minutes at the end of each flight saying goodbye to the passengers. None of our competitors’ pilots do this, nor should we.

They don’t do anything for a day or two and then Ed gives us what we deserve and they go back to business as usual. This would not be a long drawn out strike. Heads would roll before that happened.

For those that have not been through a nasty contract at this company before get ready for everything about your occupation to be publicly advertised by the company. Management here negotiates via the media. Especially if you reside in ATL your neighbors will learn what you make, how many days off you get, vacation, etc. You’ll learn who your real friends are, and who you’ll never talk to again. Everyone will feel they have the right to comment on your profession.
Traditionally ALPA has done a lousy job of countering this. I hope they’ve learned and will do much better this time. What is different now is that the media has been reporting on how delta, along with the other airlines pretty much squandered $46 billion in bailout $$, and public sentiment is definitely more on our side this time.
I firmly believe we now hold the advantage, and we need to use it. Let’s take the gloves off. No. Holds. Barred.

Heck yeah, voted YES!!! for the new guys, If we get to a strike, which might be the best thing for your future, it will probably last 15 minutes. The disruption to our system would be catastrophic in so many ways to management's ivory tower. It's at this point the RLA advantage shifts to the employee... finally.

Voted yes and had to wait about 8 minutes because the server was so bogged down, which I assumed that was happening. No matter. I have been around this company my entire life, even as a kid. It seems like we are dealing with a management who would rather burn this place to the ground instead of negotiating a fair contract with pilots. So, maybe it is long past due for many of us to have the same attitude. Personally I think there is a lot more that we can do as a group than just ditching the hats and wearing the lanyard.

this^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

My yes vote is in

This is why I've never understood people who have such an aversion to discussing pay or why there is such a stigma around it. If more people talked about their income, there would be more power in the hands of the employee over the employer? Maybe it's because my entire career, anyone could quickly and easily see what I made, so it's never been an issue...even when I made crap pay. If I lost a friend over this, I'd say good riddance, they clearly weren't a friend anyway. I don't shun my friend for the cost of the product that his company provides (which I may buy), because I see that he owns 5 or 6 planes, including a turboprop. Idk, people are weird. Probably a good thing that most of my close friends are squadron mates/fellow airline guys lol.

Either way, 100% agree with the rest of your post.

Yes!

Fights on

Authorization in! It's going to get real. About time.

Look forward to it. When someone says I make too much, I simply offer the next landing. Everyone thinks they can be a pilot, but there seems to be a shortage around here lately.

Let's go. In favor, and I'm ready to wait for the contract we deserve and have earned.

Only vote to strike if you actually want anything approaching a decent contract. Consider maybe just letting the ceiling of the profession slowly drift down. As you climb the ladder you'll probably barely even notice all those top rungs missing.

Of course they aren’t in the same Galaxy. I give folks the benefit of the doubt that they know that. I fly a few green slips each year myself. I’m sorry I compared two fruits instead of a fruit and a gearbox.

My point was simply that making a difference sometimes requires making hard decisions and it could require some personal sacrifice. Sometimes short term sacrifices have long-term payoffs. First year pay comes as no surprise to anyone who has eyeballed Delta as a potential employer, and it certainly doesn’t last forever. I’m pretty sure everyone here has experienced first year pay. We get it.

A strike vote is not a hard decision. Deciding one “would” run into a burning building to save someone is not a hard decision. The odds are that none of us will actually have to strike, or run into proverbial buildings.

Breaking a GS or WS-to-FAR-limits addiction could actually be a little painful for some and admittedly change/add financial pressure to the family budget. Some will break it anyway.

Take a look at the rates of fatigue calls here. They’re WAY up. They didn’t go up when rotations and monthly schedules got more fatiguing…they only went way up when all of the hard parts of fatiguing out were removed. There’s now no paperwork required and there’s zero financial risk. Only after those changes were made did more folks start making the right decision not to operate airplanes full of people when their brains were operating in a state equivalent to drunkenness.

I wish we could all do what’s best for ourselves and our families with complete disregard for the association because the former doesn’t affect the latter. That simply isn’t reality. And of course we CAN do whatever we want…but don’t expect the same end state as compared to circumstances where we all at least consider what’s good for the group in addition to what’s good for the individual.

(Pictorial) thanks for this!

Non-airline friend of mine back in ATL called me yesterday to inquire about our “upcoming strike”. Apparently the media there have made mention of it. And so it begins…

I'm a probie too, so I was in the same boat. The union put out a very informative podcast which addresses the strike vote, and a lot of specifics for new hires. I'd recommend giving that a listen.