Do I smell a resolution?

 

Hockey,

I agree with you - the company really did hint, no not even hint, insinuate that we would hire if the TA was passed. Total BS and shame on anyone if that swayed their vote.

I voted yes and would vote yes again. Not because of BS Press releases by the company. I really cannot fathom that any DAL Pilot would actually vote one way or another based on anything that the company says it "might" do.

I have been on property since early 2000 and will never believe another word the company says about: future aircraft orders, RJs developing a market for Mainline growth, DAL being poised for (anything), or any future goodies that will appear if we will just do _________ .

I am not saying that these things will not happen - they might. But they will happen regardless of what we Pilots do. The company will buy aircraft when it is in its best interest of the company to buy planes. They will enter into codeshares, JVs, outsource, whatever - when it is in the best interest of the company to do so. That is what they are paid to do.

Anyone who votes one way or another because of what DAL management says they "might" do are fools. I don't think many of my fellow Pilots are fools. I think most guys weighed the Pros and Cons and voted accordingly. This is certainly what I did. FWIW the 717s are still coming, we will hire and probably hire more with this new contract. Did the company mislead us on their plans to hire? Only if we were foolish enough to believe them.


Scoop

 

Talk about leaving a bad taste in your mouth. That statement from the company that there would likely be hiring last year actually had me thinking we would, because, well, I trusted them*. As has been said, the landscape hasn't turned for the worse: no big economic downturn, no act of God event. If anything, the landscape has improved. So why put that out there and then never, ever address it again? Granted, now I realize it would just be more BS thrown my way, but this time I would realize this is coming from those who go to great lengths to take liberties with the truth and appear to have no qualms about it. Maybe I'd take the second serving with a grain of salt. So forgive me if I pretty much ignore the weekly updates and scan for the mea culpa as to why it was put out if they had very little intention of actually following through with it. I might even respect them a bit more if they just came out and said it--"SUCKERS!!!"

*But the rest of the TA was lacking enough I still didn't vote for it.

 

All they ever planned to hire this winter was 100 to 150 guys to smooth the training flow for the 717 introduction. Flight ops still wanted to do that but did not get funding. The retirements came in around 190 instead of the 300 to 350 expected however the demographic that left was much more junior then expected so overall not a bad result. The 63 and 64 year old's will be leaving soon regardless.
The military guys are not unhappy and leaving the military in droves. They are dancing in the streets about manageing to get a full military retirement and having a reserved number at Delta to come back to. Getting 50 grand a year from uncle sam plus full medical and then coming back to a growing airline with frontloaded number, a additional lump sum retirement contribution from Delta for the entire time you were gone plus interest is a pretty good deal. A large block of pilots who went out in 2002-04 are hitting the 20 year point right now. They are 100 percent coming back. Of course if they read this forum they must be wondering why.

 

Lets change the subject and get onto the upcoming profit sharing.....

The number that's being floated around is about 6.65% with a profit of 1.6 Billion. Someone explain to me why that would be since in 2010 if my memory serves me we had a 1.2 Billion profit and 6.5% PS...

Why shouldn't the check be more like 8.5% with a 30% higher profit???

 

The 3000 pilots ALPA said would be needed in the near term "due to C2012" are now expected to come over the course of a decade. Regardless of the 717's coming online more planes will be parked to offset the need for pilots. Bet on it!

 

You (and Alfa) continue to ruin the fun by introducing facts into the argument. Killjoy.

 

The problem with the SD "we could begin the hiring process as early as the last quarter of this year" memo on June 8th, it came a bit too close to the vote to be anything but trying to up the ante to get this thing passed.

In the meantime we heard on here the 717 meant 500 pilots, 750 pilots, 800 pilots, 900, 1000, 1200, 1000, 1200, etc.

To be honest, I don't doubt that Flight Ops wanted to hire just to save face with the pilot group next time they make a promise in a memo. But that's the thing, get it writing or it doesn't mean anything.

I have a feeling as time passes we're going to see Pinnacle Pilots left holding the bag, just like anyone who was hoping the 717 meant hiring. And just maybe 2012-2013 will be the last time we accept things without having them in writing and not a vague promise in a memo, and in hard numbers, not in questionable ratios.

 

Here's the numbers from FY 2010, which was paid in Feb 2011, this is from the ALPA email:

Delta’s 2010 pretax profit was $608 million; our contract excludes several expense items so Delta’s pretax profit was $1.94 billion for purposes of calculating profit sharing. ØSince some labor groups have a different profit sharing calculation, Delta divided the profit sharing payments appropriately between the two plans. ALPA’s Economic & Financial Analysis Department has reviewed and verified those calculations.
ØYour profit sharing payment for the 2010 calendar year will be approximately 6.5% of your 2010 eligible earnings; Delta plans to distribute the profit sharing check on February 14th, and it will be a separate payment from your mid-month paycheck.

---
The contract lays it all out for expense items, I don't have the time to look and see what it would calculate out to. The email from ALPA that year was dated Jan 26, 2011 so I imagine we should be getting more information about profit sharing shortly.

Same thing with our 2012 W-2s, those emails (if you have electronic delivery) have come Jan 20-22nd, so we should get those shortly as well.

 

OK. I admit this Kaepernick guy is fun to watch.
But the 49ers are going down today.