Airline Pilot Central Forums - Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?

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Originally Posted by Erdude32 (Post 1470142)

I got the Dalpa survey call this afternoon. From the tone of the questions and the options of the answers, I'd surmise that they are planning on a representational vote in the not too distant future.

Questions were, as best I can remember them:

How satisfied are you with your LEC
How satisfied are you with the MEC
Do you think you have a strong contract
Is the contract enforced
Are you satisfied with the contract
How satisfied are you with ALPA
Have you heard of the DPA
How likely is it that you think there will be a vote for representation
What percentage of Delta Pilots do you think will vote for self representation
Will you vote for the DPA.

Not sure of the exact verbage of the questions. From the available answers you had to choose from for each question, about 1/2 way through I nearly hung up as it appeard to be a push poll. Then the questions got more pointed and interesting towards the end.

I've said in the past that I was done with Dalpa polling after they summarily ignored the contract survey (I'll believe that until it's PROVEN otherwise). However, this survey was different. I think they are trying to get a handle on a spiraling out of control situation.

I've been sitting on the fence the last couple of months. I'm none too impressed with Tim Caplingers rantings and foot in mouth press releases. However, as a VERY Sr SLC crew pointed out to me recently on a JS ride home....are there Alpa or Dalpa guys you don't like? But you continue to support them? Don't let your dislike of one individual dissuade you from the bigger picture of self-representation.

I'm sending in a card tomorrow. We need to vote on this BEFORE the next Sec 6....AND before Dalpa can have another give away of more 76 seaters and profit sharing for a cola raise.

There lies the fallacy of the DPA being the solution. We went into 2012 screaming to management that we were divided. The self fulfilling prophecy was that because we were divided we lacked leverage for another point or two in pay. Doing this again before 2015 is another tell to management. Divided pilot group. Regardless of which side you voted for, assuming you voted for any union (you're out there I know you are), you are going to get less and pay more for it. Hear me out.

Just flew with a DPA guy with less than 8 months left on property. His vote out the door affects the next 16 years I have left. He's ****ed off at something that happened in the late 80's and he voted yes on every contract from POS96 to today. The pilots vote the contract in. MEMRAT is the power for the pilots. Blaming ALPA for a contract no one liked means that no one voted no when they should have. Are we really blaming someone else for not having the ba11$ to vote no ourselves?

This forum tears apart everything that ALPA puts out. Every word is checked and every paragraph scrutinized but no one appears to have read any of the DPA material or cared to go through it. A list of goals and a constitution that is downright scary.

Dues go up with DPA. Not only do they go up, they go up with no vote. That's something that can't happen in ALPA today. This is all from the DPA constitution and something that automatically goes into place on day one. I've emailed Caplinger with these questions and he hasn't answered but to say that nothing is set in stone. The constitution starts day one. Good luck going back to change that.

The dues rate shall be 1.75% upon initial certification by the National Mediation Board. On January 1st of the second full fiscal year following initial certification, the dues rate shall drop annually by 0.25% every year until reaching a minimum dues rate of 1%. Special Circumstance Exception: Six (6) months prior to the amendable date of the Pilot Working Agreement, or upon early opening of negotiations if greater than six (6) months prior to the amendable date, or upon notification of a possible bankruptcy or merger initiated by the Company, the dues rate will temporarily increase by 0.5% until the new contract is ratified, or bankruptcy proceedings or merger integration is complete.

Section 6 or a merger are going to happen for us sooner rather than later. That mean dues go to an automatic 2.25% and stay there until "the new contract is ratified" Even in the future, they go up on their own. If we went USAPA/APA on a Section 6 then we'd be looking at years of 2.25% and still working under the same CBA and still waiting for the NMB. We'd be paying more for what we have now. There is no plan on getting us out of our existing CBA because you can't. The dues increase requires no vote like it does today. That's a fact and it's a problem.

Flight pay loss is going up. It's okay though because they'll have more money they say. This is another red flag in the constitution.

In addition, the Association will pay a salary of one half (1/2) of the ALV of the Category bid plus a premium of thirty percent (30%) of the ALV for the President and twenty-five percent (25%) of the ALV for all other Officers, Representatives and Committee Chairpersons.

Caplinger as interim president is looking at pay as high as 109 hours per month and the reps at 105. The 105 also applies to committee chairman. The DPA just published the pay of a handful of ALPA pilots as an example of being paid too much and none of those received more than 92 hours of pay. The flight pay loss going up is another issue for me. Interim president and self volunteered committee chairman are all getting a massive pay bump and one that is higher than our reps today.

Keep in mind this is just pay. If any of you have seen our treasurer speak you'll know that ALPA pays an override of 37.5% to Delta for benefits on top of flight pay loss. That won't go away. So, it's another 37.5% on top the 109 hours of pay! You'll also have read that the DPA is planning on getting rid of Delta reimbursed flight pay loss. That's millions in flight pay loss and override over what we pay today.

We all know the ALV fluctuates so if you use the same numbers that the DPA used for the their calculations (average 87 hours of pay per month) interim president FO Caplinger will get paid $289K or more than than they claim Captain Roberts gets today using the DPA's own numbers. Hello? The new guys have set themselves up to get paid more than the current guys they are upset with.

That's just dues and flight pay loss. The constitution has many other issues. New hires and military pilots returning from leave can't be reps. New hires get charged a monthly service fee (free today). Quorum is 3/4 of the members. A resolution needs a minimum of 25% of the members in a block to move it forward.

If you don't know or haven't spent time with anyone at USAPA, you need to. The promises and goals there were for a "cost neutral" contract in 45-90 days. Regardless of the reason for the split, they haven't been able to achieve anything and pay more for it. Their labor lawyer told the USAPA pilots he would get management on board with the contract on it being cost neutral. Our management talked about cost neutral, ALPA did not. Why would the labor attorney be pushing for a cost neutral solution???

How about this?

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1. A contract which is understandable, enforceable and beneficial to both parties and should not exceed 200 pages. The average line pilot should be able to fully grasp all provisions of the contract and easily know their responsibilities while also easily determining if the Company is in violation of any area.

The contract should be "beneficial to both parties" how the H E double hockey sticks is that a freaking goal? Beneficial to both sides? That's double speak for protacktive engagement. Don't even get me started on the iron clad 200 page contract...

Gentleman, it's time to do the same due diligence on this organization that we do on our own today. I could go on but pick up is in 15. Did I mention I asked for my card back and it hasn't been returned yet?

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss