It appears to me that ALPA national hurries these negotiations for no other reason to restrict the amount of capital used in negotiations (the longer you spend in negotiations the larger the capital outlay). Negotiations are a expense/liability the end game is to increase revenue (union dues and minimizing the expense/liabilities increases profit margin... and alpa sure could use a increase in the coffers) Our union is run like a big business always trying to find ways to cut expense and increase revenue. Like it or not, ALPA is a big business and we at Delta are not getting our value from our investment dues. Does anybody know how much we provide Delta in dues vs. our direct benefit received? I would like to find the answer if anyone knows.

I was at American Eagle just after ALPA pushed for the 16 year contract with a no strike clause. Who the hell pushes that for their union constituents? At that point in 1999 I realized that it was a benefit to ALPA to continue charging you members 1.95% while limiting future costs. Every 4 years all eagle pilots received from ALPA was a limited list of 5 items that they would like improvements on. Of course with the no strike clause management really never negotiated with a sense of urgency, they held all the cards.

 

Hey what is the crashpad / hotel situation like in CVG? Anyone familiar with locations / pricing? How does it compare to the hotel option in DTW?

 

Thank you George. You are correct and our pilots and professional lobbyists are making a very big impact. I saw it for myself. If you want to succeed in making significant changes to our PWA you must make sure that the legs of the table(foreign ownership, cabotage, level playing field, fair skies etc do not change. Our avenue to force these points is ALPA PAC. Its career insurance in the broadest sense.

 

Great Post.

 

I have come to the same conclusion.

Emirates just dropped a ton of cash to sponsor NYC's major league soccer team. They are gunning for our bread & butter.

I detest ALPA, its bureaucracy and pretty much everything else about it.

I hate that my money will be sent to slimeball politicians in both parties.

But let's not kid ourselves. Money talks. Bullsh!t walks. We've got to play the game.

 

Another great post. ALPA lost me along with many in my seniority block because of those furloughs. They facilitated MGT. All I have seen is more of the same ever since which is even more amazing. ALPA is not capable of slaying the dragon they have created. Not sure if anyone can, but personally I would give anyone else the opportunity. After this last contract, it is even more obvious they are simply an extension of MGT that we are forced to pay 2% to. I think the threat of unionization would would be a bigger hammer than ALPA!

 

Make senses. I know ALPA national provides training to the NC at each airline. That would explain how the same scenario is playing out during negotiations at various airlines right now and pattern bargaining and "contract restoration" are out the window. The modus operandi seems to have these ingredients:

1. Put out surveys accompanied by bulletins regarding the importance of everybody participating which in turn "arms the NC with precise data they need going into negotiations". This also makes pilots feel their input is valued and that the time they spend filling out said survey will ultimately shape the outcome of their next contract. Two thumbs up...the pilots are empowered!!

2. Shut the doors completely on what is happening during negotiations with an occasional blip about the need to keep this information out of the media as well as their legal obligations to the NDA's they signed with the company.

3. There are whispers that something has been hammered out between your negotiating team and management and that the NC is now presenting to people within the MEC.

4. After weeks of no information followed by wildly preposterous rumors (that usually end up being true) a TA that looks like it was written by management (and probably did have language help from Mike Campbell) comes out using words like "opportunity" and "time value of money"...."this needs to get done yesterday"...."if we don't take what is offered now, the next offer will be less".

5. Some lower class members of ALPA voice concerns and are absolutely pummeled by the upper echelon of the hierarchy. The discredit campaign on these guys continues even though they seem to be making salient points and bringing up reasonable arguments against the TA.

6. Many line pilots comparing notes between themselves and the proposed TA ask for and are denied the survey results because it will somehow hurt current and future contract negotiations (even though the NC was supposed to ask for exactly what the survey indicated and the deal being tossed around is probably much less than what the survey results are asking for... begging the question how releasing survey results that asked for much more could weaken the negotiation process with management)?

The reality is probably closer to...not releasing the survey results has more to do with getting pilots approval on the current TA than it does with negotiations with management. You see, if pilots saw that the average pay increase across the board revealed by the survey was say 50% (you know..."contract restoration") There is no way pilots would vote for a barely keeping up with inflation contract. The upper level ALPA guys have been given managements version of what it means to work together...they have been provided carefully selected data...they are part of something much bigger than the rest of their pilot group. They see the big picture that line pilots would never understand. Hell they dined with Richard and he explained that a healthy Delta is good for everybody, including the pilots...and there will be more "opportunities" for everybody down the road.

7. The union then (with the help of management) carefully and selectively prepares data to sell the hell out of the TA, crafting their words precisely, omitting potentially damning "what ifs" and providing exciting talk of more airplanes, hiring et al to the road show crew who are also armed with glossy pictures and scripted responses. Anybody that dared step out of line by questioning is hammered. As the vote deadline approaches a heavy fear campaign is added in and examples of how "so and so didn't achieve squat by trying to raise the bar....just take what is placed on the table before you...DO NOT ask for a penny more...it will blow up in your face".

The TA passes. Later, all the scenarios that "likely will never come into play".....come into play. The true believers defend the sales job to the bitter end with twisting and turning spin, asking to always look around the next corner for Shangri-La.

The company subsequently doesn't hire (with the magic date for hiring constantly moving down the road...after all, "we are overstaffed system wide now" somehow), uses every work rule they "were likely to not use fully", expand code shares/JV's, purchase chunks of other airlines, large RJ's, pledge billions of dollars that weren't there only months ago, etc....all while the Delta pilot group shrinks and displaces.

Fast forward 3 to 5 years....lather, rinse, repeat. Nobody seems to remember anything in this industry.

 

This is exactly what we're seeing today from sailingfun, shiznit, sailor jerry, et al.

 

I do agree on this point as well.

 

You are doing bad math:

DAL 717 CA: $184
DAL 717 FO: $112

AVG RJ CA: $75
AVG RJ FO: $38

mainline CA payrate is 2.45x more* than RJ
mainline FO payrate is 2.94x more* than RJ

*not factoring in improved work rules, benefits that mean more pilots getting paid at the higher rates

If it was about "more dues" only, it would STILL be beneficial to have mainline jobs instead of RJ jobs.