As shocking as $1.27 Million sounds, if it's even that high(doubtful), is sadly not even close enough to sit at any of the big player tables in DC. This is why a National union doesn't make sense, as we will never have the resources to make positive change. So the only thing we are left with is the conflict of interest, without a national list or even basic unity.

 

The contract was inked in July. The industry had been in free fall since April. The 01 contract I don't recall having much influence on staffing. If you were talking about the 96 contract or LOA 46 or the 1113 contract I would agree with you. In fact I pointed out on this forum many times that work rule changes were a bigger factor then RJ's. In the early nineties we averaged around 600 block hours per pilot. That number us now around 800 hours. The problem however is that we are still at the bottom relative to the industry in productivity. You can blame SWAPA for that. The industry made huge gains in quality of life. Almost every contract was a step forward. Then along came a airline ignored at first that flew their pilots to FAR maximums. Soon they achieved critical mass and the reckoning started. Quality of life began to suffer the death by a thousand cuts for the sake of competing with SWA. Even with the givebacks they were far more productive. They could go into any legacy market at will and do well. They sustained 10% growth year after year and soon became the largest domestic airline in the US. The axe fell on the legacies via the 1113 process and we all started working more like the SWAPA model. This was followed by the end of growth at SWA since they could no longer take market share at will. Why so many Delta pilots seem to hold SWAPA as a paragon of what a union should be eludes me!

 

BINGO!! Your analysis is spot on.

 

It wasn't just SWA, but also JB and AT that were also allowed to enter endless growth mode and reach critical mass. Fortunately MaxJet and Eos went away, VX was delayed a couple years and SkyBus II imploded under its own business model. JB and VX together have grown into a ton of capacity and they have plans for more endless growth and code shares with the Gulf airlines and probably NAI eventually. We can't run from marketshare wars anymore. While we have to show some modicum of restraint against the other legacies, its time to take it to the LCC's with very agressive targeted assaults and slam the door on their growth ambitions. Where their business model goes from there isn't our concern. We can start by each legacy taking the top 10-20 routes from one of them each and just burying them. That is exactly what they are going to continue to do to us if we permit their growth to continue unchecked.

 

I don't think 1.3 is too much for a national union president. I think the union leadership at Delta and ALPA national has been good under his watch.

 

The contract c2k, was also based on an economy that had multi-billion dollar companies where their most valuable asset was a sock puppet. However, that economy has actually returned, so restoration is really not too much to ask from the group.

 

At the end of the day, whether cash, allowances, or whatever...we're paying him with our money.

And that's just one guy. We're not even breaking down the other deadweight and waste up there yet.

 

Sailing,

Your analysis is outstanding, but there is one area where I believe SWA has always had us beat, and that is in the area of guaranteed pay per day. Let's face it, most pilots want to work when we show up to work, not dawdle and get min guarantee. To summarize:

SWA guys get paid by the "trip" with is roughly a unit of distance equal to 53 minutes, or 1 trip = 1.13 hours.

SWA captains get roughly the same hourly pay per "trip" as a DAL 767 captain does per hour!

So, sort of equating the two pay rates, now consider....


The reserve guarantee at SWA is 90 (!) trips a month.

The minimum pay per day is 6.5 trips (at DAL 767 pay rates). Every one day pays at least 6.5 trips (or TFP, Trips For Pay), every two day is worth 13, every three-day 19.5, etc.

A MDW-LAS-MDW turn was profiled in one of their publications. It blocked at 7.55, which would make it a very senior turn at most airlines, including DAL. It paid 9.3 trips! (at DAL 767 rates).

I would like to see us emulate such. We are getting there, but have a ways to go.

 

edited for correctness

 

Hey boyz,

Quick question. Is CQ credit or pay only?

Ferd