I think many are going to be disappointed.

 

Management had all our real cash numbers before the contract became amendable. One glance and they filed for mediation. They listened to their experts and have been extremely pleased if not ecstatic with the result.

 

What do you mean? Everyone on here says we are getting 30-40% plus retro no probs LOL.

 

The MEC doesn’t set my expectations. They represent my expectations. I know your school of thought begs for sheep to follow the blessed ones, but that ain’t the association I want to be a part of. I have decades left here, and I’ll not support further degradation in this profession. A ratcheting down of our qol and compensation every time disaster hits (9/11, BK, COVID, Inflation) simply isn’t acceptable to me and many of my peers. With less than three years left, I am sure every day we don’t have a TA feels like an eternity to you and your peers. I’m willing to wait for the right deal that claws back some qol lost over the years and. Holds on what we have managed to preserve. A big pay raise would be nice but it isn’t at the top of my personal list.

Time will tell, but I am to believe much of what could be in this TA will be worth the wait. Maybe not for you - but re-baselining qol expectations now will set a nice foundation for my many years of employment here. That stuff is hard to get back but I think we’re doing it. The MEC isn’t perfect, but man am I glad we didn’t rush to a deal this incompetent management team would have signed in 2019.

 

Curious what your options/actions are if it doesn't meet your $1.5B/year price tag with retro on top ?

 

The membership set the expectations. The MEC merely follows them, through statistically valid polling and direct interactions. 4 years ago, the company was printing $6B a year. Our ask was entirely reasonable then. That rate of earning has just about returned. 2023 will be a record year.

Personally, my expectations have only gone up in the last 6 months, as 8+% annual inflation continues unabated.

I have heard from my reps, and JA himself, that we have thus far had zero concessions. None. Zip. Zilch. They are keenly aware we will put their noggins on a spike if they bring us a lackluster product (like UA and AA have apparently done). In addition, they are adamant we are not skipping a contact cycle, and this will be 2 contracts in one. (As an aside, there were over 50 asks from the company on section 23 alone, which is huge. They beat back every single one of them, except the 2 which made so much noise about a month ago.) At this point, we are just about down to just the $$$.

Having said that, I'm very guarded that the MEC will come back to us with a ton of QOL gains, and a very meager $$$ package, stating it's the best they can get considering UA and AA, and that the QOL will make ratifying the agreement worth it. UA is about to vote a resounding NO on their renewed TA1 vote, and AA would help a lot by voting theirs down too.

 

At what point will you decide the grand slam strategy is not working? When we are talking about missing two contract cycles? I thought a modest 8,4,4 contract with a 18% DC and modest work rule improvements on time would have been a good deal for the pilot group. My ask would have been a bit higher had I known the inflation numbers. To bridge that gap as you state if this contract is 3 years long we are going to need around 40% total increases over the 3 years. Have you seen the results for other airlines so far? When do you see us getting that contract?
If the union believes the ask was correct we are going to need to start retro pay as of 31 Jan 19 at over 20%? Do you see that happening?

 

So other words, we lose... Again.

 

Tell me you haven't seen the polling without telling me you haven't seen the polling

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There are only two options. I’ll know once we have a TA to vote on.