I'm disappointed but not surprised about the upcoming AE. More widebody jobs "funding" the narrowbody ones....

Ugh, that letter from "The Chairman" literally makes me sick to my stomach. It is downright scary that they were able to sell this contract to this group of smart and generally well-informed pilots. It is full of half-truths, downright lies, and guesses (stated as fact) that have never come to fruition.

Scary to think that THIS is our bargaining agent, THIS is the one entity that's supposed to stand up to management with our best interests in mind. I feel like I'm on trial for a murder I didn't commit, and the sick feeling I have is because I found out my defense attorney is employed by and sleeping with the good looking and convincing prosecutor.

Cheaper for the Company to move around the junior pilots and leave Captains in position.

Every bid is the last of the displacement bids............. until the next bid. :rolleyes:

Free beer tomorrow.

Scoop

Best post I've read on the subject. Happy Independence Day

Seriously?

Our Association fights hard for us, day in and day out. When I've brought questions to our Committees it has always shocked and delighted me that a quick response is had, even at 22:15. These folks work tirelessly, they have kids, they have jobs, they also feel a compulsion to help make the place better.

I don't know how many of these people you know, but to a man I have been impressed with their honesty and integrity.

If I might use a metaphor to explain my response to FlyZ's post, it is similar to a guy who works a long day to make money to support his family being accused of having an affair as soon as he walks in the door to the house he's paying for.

The common sense truth is that we do have a lot in common with management and every other employee of this Company. Some improvements are just that, common sense. We all can come together to fight the incursion of alien competitors into our marketplace. We all do better when our employer is stable and profitable.

In my short time I saw this company face liquidity problems (putting fuel on credit at, what was it, 18% interest briefly in March of 2008!?). We have come a long way and are going in the right direction.

There is some temporary pain that sucks for some members of the list (two MD's and one reinstatement for me, expect another MD this fall). But, smaller airplanes (that we asked for) and greater efficiencies (which avoid furloughs) added up to displacements. Overall, our list has seen pay increases.

IMHO it is one thing to disagree and debate policy. It is another to accuse folks of infidelity. Our Chairman is an honest man.

Happy 4th everyone. For you ATL guys, sorry about the weather. For the first time in my Delta career I'm off today and made outdoor plans. My bad.:cool:

Did you go and wash your car to kick these storms off? ;)

Cheers and enjoy!

Except the guy isn't bringing home the money to us; we're paying him--you got it backwards.
Bar, I know where you're coming from. My limited interactions with my reps and other DALPA volunteers has almost always left me with a great appreciation for the incredible amount of time and effort they put toward the job of representing me and my fellow Delta pilots (notable exception: being told by a member of the scheduling optimization team that 5 days of flying would get me into bucket 2--to be kind, either he convinced himself 1+1=4 or he was grossly incompetent regarding how RAW score works). That being said, there's a huge disconnect from the outstanding work and responses I get from my local reps and the results I see from the organization from on high. That letter from the chairman is a prime example. It's filled with so much bunk; I'm left dazed and confused--my local reps are so outstanding; committee members are working their tails off, yet we're sold a one-sided story and are continually left with the impression the guys at the top aren't doing as much as they can in order keep a sense of good will in place with management. FlyZ's analogy is a better one than yours. I'm confident the chairman is an honest man, but as evidenced by that letter a page back, we were sold a TA that wasn't what it was purported to be. It would appear DALPA and the company worked hand in hand to get us to sign on to it. That's why FlyZ's post hit it on the head. And I feel I have to say this each and every time because the ALPA defenders don't seem to understand: we are working for the best airline and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, but does that mean we have to accept and not question something when we see it is clearly wrong headed? Too many if not all ALPA defenders can't tell you a thing that the union has gotten wrong in the past four years. Yet, pointing out how our union could do a better job too often results in calls for you to leave and go fly somewhere else, or volunteer. Hey, if I pay the plumber to come fix a leak and he reduces it by 60% of what it was, and I voice concern about the job should I feel I need to "volunteer" to get the result I'm paying for?

Tell me about it. Since last July I have moved down 19% and looks like this next one just might kick me off. But hey on the bright side there might be enough movement in the next 5-7 years to where I might not have to commute anymore. Oops I almost forgot that committing is a choice! Sorry I'll quit my whining now and just move with every AE until I can get back to where I currently live.

But on a positive note, I somehow got the whole first week of July off which I do not understand? Everyone have a happy July 4th!